How I Work

** Grab tickets for The Energy Game Melbourne launch (29 July, 6:30pm) here and pre-order The Energy Game book here.**

You have the calendar colour-coded. You time block. You deep work. You have iterated on your to-do list more times than you can count. And yet somehow, you are still exhausted - falling further behind, producing less than you know you are capable of, and wondering what on earth is wrong with you.
Nothing is wrong with you. But the solution you have been sold almost certainly is.
This episode is a little different. It is an excerpt from my new book, The Energy Game, read by me, and it picks up close to the start of the book where I get into how we ended up in this energy crisis in the first place, and how to spot those early warning signs of chronic depletion before they tip into full-blown burnout.
The Energy Game is out on July 7, 2026. You can pre-order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M

Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)
If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/
Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.
Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is a question most of us skip past entirely in our daily lives: do I actually matter? Not "am I useful?" or "am I successful?" but do I matter, as a person, independent of what I produce or achieve?
It sounds simple. But the research suggests we are terrible at actually living like the answer is yes.
In this episode, I sit down with Jennifer Breheny Wallace, journalist and bestselling author of Mattering, a book that unpacks why so many of us have tied our sense of worth to our output, and what it costs us. Jennifer has been researching this topic for nearly a decade, and her work is one of those rare combinations: rigorously grounded and deeply personal.
Jennifer and I discuss:
The two sides of the mattering equation: feeling significant versus being useful, and why both are essential
The crumpled $20 bill story and what it teaches children (and adults) about unconditional worth
The "impact file" and why what goes in it might surprise you
Three different paths you can take when envy hits, including one called mudita that reframes another person's success as your own
What managers get wrong about mattering, and the small everyday moments that actually move the needle
The 30-second nightly practice that can override your brain's negativity bias
Key Quotes
"Mattering is found in the small everyday moments of life. It was never the big moments, it was the small moments."
"We all crave to feel needed and relied on. Letting young people know that you are valued for so much more than your achievements, you are needed here, you have a role in this world."
Connect with Jennifer Breheny Wallace on Instagram, LinkedIn and her website, and check out her books Mattering and Never Enough

If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'd love a chat I had with bestselling author Daniel Coyle on how to avoid small talk and the questions that create real connection. Listen here.

My latest book The Energy Game is out on July 7, 2026. You can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M
Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)
If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/
Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.
Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when a team generates a thousand ideas - and kills most of them within minutes?
In this Quick Win, I speak with Exploding Kittens co-creator Elan Lee about how he and his team turn chaos into creativity during their quarterly design retreats. Over three intense days, they generate, test, and ruthlessly discard ideas - all without bruising egos.
Elan shares how he’s built a culture of trust where killing ideas isn’t failure, it’s focus - and why showing your team it’s safe to let go might be the most powerful leadership move you can make.
Elan and I discuss:
Inside Exploding Kittens’ quarterly design retreats
Why Elan ditched the “yes, and…” rule for “no, kill it”
How to create psychological safety in creative chaos
The leadership habit that helps teams detach from their ideas
Why rejecting ideas fast can unlock better ones
KEY QUOTE
“All the best ideas start out as terrible ideas - they just need room to evolve.”
Explore Elan’s games at explodingkittens.com and connect with him on Instagram, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn.
Listen to my full conversation with Elan here.

My latest book The Health Habit is out now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amantha.com/the-health-habit/
Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)
If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha-imber.ck.page/subscribe
Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.
Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a portfolio career, requests have a funny way of multiplying. A speaking gig here, a board invite there, a coffee catch-up that sounds valuable but drains you for days. The answer to all of them is technically "yes" right up until the moment it isn't.
Katie is 18 months into consulting and a portfolio career, and she came to me with a problem a lot of people share: she's getting busier, she cares deeply about protecting time for values-driven work, and saying no is a muscle she's still building.
This episode is part of The Work Edit, a format on How I Work where I sit down with someone facing a real professional challenge and we work through it together live.
We cover my yes triage framework, the no club concept, the to-don't list, the never again list, and a simple rule called the next Tuesday test.
Katie and I discuss:
The yes triage: three questions to run every request through before deciding, and why you need a "hell yes" to at least two of them
Why saying yes out of flattery or guilt is so common, and how to catch yourself doing it
The no club: how a small group of trusted colleagues can give you the objective perspective you can't give yourself
The to-don't list and how to use it monthly to protect your energy from the things you already know drain you
The never again list for the spectacularly bad decisions you keep forgetting you made
Why a slow no is not polite and why a fast no within 24 hours is almost always the kinder move
The next Tuesday test: how to reality-check a far-off commitment by imagining it was happening this week
Key quotes
"A slow no is actually unkind because the other person is just waiting and probably following up when they could already be finding someone who'll say yes."
"What all these strategies do is reduce cognitive load. There's no longer a decision to make. There's just a rule to follow."

My latest book The Energy Game is out on July 7, 2026. You can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M
Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)
If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/
Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.
Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

**Join the AI Agent Bootcamp here: https://www.inventium.ai/learnvirtually-agents**
You have access to AI. You probably use it a fair bit. And yet there's a good chance you're still manually scrubbing through meeting transcripts, tabbing between LinkedIn and Google News before every sales call, and spending 20 minutes writing an executive summary for a paper you just finished writing.
That gap between having AI and actually letting it take things off your plate is where a lot of time quietly disappears.
In this How I AI episode, Neo and I walk through eight tasks that knowledge workers should never have to do manually again, and what it actually looks like to hand them off to agents.
How I AI is a special series within How I Work where Neo and I explore how high performers are using AI at work to boost productivity, make better decisions and reduce overwhelm.
What you'll learn in this episde:
Which meeting-related tasks are the easiest to hand off to an agent
How to build a pre-meeting briefing agent for sales and business development
Why editing and proofreading agents need very specific instructions to protect your voice
Where inbox agents are most useful, and what they can and can't do for you
How to think about agents when comparing options before a purchase decision
Practical AI tools for productivity and focus
Real-world AI workflows used by high performers
How to use AI at work without burning out
Smart shortcuts for managing time and mental load
Connect with Neo Aplin on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neoaplin/) and via inventium.ai (https://inventium.ai), where he leads Inventium's AI training and upskilling work with organisations and teams.
My latest book The Energy Game is out on July 7, 2026. You can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M
Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)
If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/
Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.
Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.