Undo – How history's outliers got stuff done
Mark Steadman 24 episodes Jun 16, 2025
Undo is a podcast about how history's oddballs, outliers, and overachievers built systems that helped them do their best work. Each episode examines a supposed productivity hack from history to separate what is genuinely useful from what is not. Rather than chasing endless output, the show argues for clearing clutter and focusing on what you do best. It helps listeners build a methodology that works for them.
Episodes
Congrats, you’re burned out! Here’s what to do next
Burnout is something that affects neurotypicals and neurospicies alike, so today we’re going to find out what it looks like so you can spot it whether it’s in the distance or right up in your grill, and more importantly we’ll look at what we can do about it.Check out our guest's podcast, You Are Not a Frog.Am I Stressed, Overwhelmed... or Burning Out?Get your free guide to help you tell t
You aren’t lazy; you’re fighting a broken system – Ignacio Martín-Baró
Modern work pressures call for some radical resistance, and we’re going to look for it where resistance is needed most: the frontline battle against oppression.Check out our guest's podcast, You Are Not a Frog.Am I Stressed, Overwhelmed... or Burning Out?Get your free guide to help you tell the difference
“Busy is the New Stupid” – What does Warren Buffett know about real work?
Is there anything this 94 year-old business mogul can teach us about our attitude towards work and busyness?Check out our guest's podcast, You Are Not a Frog.Am I Stressed, Overwhelmed... or Burning Out?Get your free guide to help you tell the difference
How to remember everything — Tiago Forte and his Second Brain
We need a system to keep our brain clear of all those nagging little tasks and bits of info we arry with us, so it can focus on having better ideas.
How to build a car or plan a wedding using Kanban
We can learn a lot from the world of manufacture and bring it into the work that we do.
Why giving less than 100% is better for your health
The whip-cracking "give it all you got" business bro bullshit isn’t just insensitive – it’s actually wrong.
Buckminster Fuller and the system of You
Modern work needs a more modern approach than Taylorism's simple "one right way". Enter systems theory, and one of its greatest proponents.
What Sherlock Holmes can teach us about productivity and our brains
He’s the world’s first and only consulting detective, and his mind has fascinated us for over a hundred and thirty years. His methods are mysterious and complex, but goddammit he gets results.So what can Baker Street’s most famous resident teach us about how we do our most important work?Special thanks to this week's guest, Matthew Bellringer.
How to stick to it when the novelty wears off – Atomic Habits
Could there be more to habit building than “just showing up”? On those days when you can’t find the inspiration, is there anything you can do to help keep you on track?
How to turn your side hustle into your main gig – “The One Thing”
While we might not come up with a paradigm-shifting idea, we are capable of putting a dent in the universe, and putting something on the permanent record of the Internet.
20% of your effort makes up 80% of your success — The Pareto principle
How you can use this law of nature, work, productivity and creativity to focus on the stuff that will have the biggest impact, and eventually ditch the rest.
How to be a polymath – Leonardo da Vinci
Being a creative person in this most digital of decades means needing to be good at more than one form of creative expression. That means thinking like a polymath, and luckily we have history’s greatest multi-hyphenate to learn from.
The super-productive women missing from time management history
Let’s spend a bit of time today with some of the women of productivity history, some of whom you know, some we’ll meet for the first time.
How Ben Franklin used timeboxing to stop missing deadlines
If you have to meet any kind of regular publishing schedule, you’ll know how time can stretch out into infinity until the night before you have to hit Publish, when suddenly it feels like you have to cram 8 hours of work into 30 minutes.But Benjamin Franklin had a neat little system that helped him keep on top of his commitments, and all it takes is a pen, some paper, and a watch.
What happened to the Inbox Zero guy?
Inbox Zero is a pretty good way of organising your email, but behind the system is a dude who stepped off the hamster wheel of productivity, got some perspective, and became one of the Internet’s true treasures.
How to make fewer mistakes – The Checklist Manifesto
Simple mistakes are more common than it’s comfortable to admit. But there’s a dirt-simple technique that has dramatically reduced the number of preventable deaths, and it’s stuff we can use to make our own lives run more smoothly.Thanks to Ayesha Khan of Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* for lending her voice to Mark's silly opening sketch.
How to work when the sky’s caving in — Lincoln vs Churchill
When things look bleak, either in your head or out in the world, being “productive” is probably the furthest thing from your mind. We live in difficult times, no doubt, but two outliers a hundred years apart, fought oppression, propaganda, and dehumanisation all while under their own personal dark clouds.
Bullet Journal – Productive or performative?
Can this analogue system for a digital age really help us get more done? Has it strayed from its roots and become synonymous with people who call things “super aesthetic”? And, if we can learn what we need to about the system in 3 minutes, why does it cost three and a half grand to learn to teach it?
How to get into the zone — Flow
Time stands still and you’re in that sweet-spot where the work you're doing is challenging enough to hold your attention, but not so difficult that it causes you stress.This is flow, and it might just prove itself to be one of the keys that unlocks long-term happiness.
The tomato of productivity – the Pomodoro Technique
It’s four o’clock in the afternoon, and you’re thinking over your day. Did you actually get anything done, or were you just reacting to a bunch of distractions?
Do the worst thing first thing (”Eat the frog”)
“Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.” So says Mark Twain. Or so says a productivity guru says Mark Twain. But as far as we can tell, Mark Twain never said that. So what’s with all the frogs, and how can they help us do more of the right stuff, and less of the wrong?
Work expands to fill the time available – Parkinson’s Law
Studies show if you give people 60 minutes to complete a task that only takes 30, they’ll work the full hour instead of taking the rest off.That’s Parkinson’s Law in action, and by recognising it, we can buy back some time to ourselves. Just don’t tell the boss, or they’ll give you more busy work.
The Eisenhower Matrix – Decision-making in the White House
How do you decide what needs to be done now, and what can wait? And how do you take care of the stuff that needs doing now, while not neglecting the things that make it worth getting out of bed in the morning?
Introducing Undo
Coming January 2025.Humans will do anything to avoid the actual work they said they’d do. While supposedly writing this trailer I checked my slow cooker, restocked the fridge, took my blood pressure (it’s dangerously high, btw), followed up on a WhatsApp conversation, picked up the post, checked in on the cats, tidied my desk and made another coffee.That’s genuinely true – these are all t
