Today, we bring you Simplify's first ever crossover episode with the  #1 Technology show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: Acquired!

For nearly 9 years David Rosenthal—today's guest—and his co-host Ben have been sharing the strategies and history of 200+ of the world's most successful businesses. From Sequoia to Sony, through to TSMC, Amazon, The New York Times, the NBA and Oprah, Acquired's hosts go deep—sometimes 3 hours deep!—into the details of each business's ups and downs. 

In this episode of Simplify, we had the unique chance to tap into David's unique wisdom and expertise and ask: what are the patterns you've seen across these success stories? 

Caitlin and David focus on 3 big lessons from David's gleaned through years of research and immersion. He shares one powerful lesson on customers, one on product, and one that extends out to collaborations. They scrutinize and highlight the insights and attitudes that have helped some of the world's most notable companies thrive. What’s more, with an experience of two hosts and expert interviewers, they reach some everlasting wisdom on quality, connection, and authenticity— applicable both in business and life! 

Check out Blinkist's exclusive collection that offers concise and insightful Blinks, revealing the secrets behind Nike's global triumphs, tailored for listeners of the Acquired podcast. 

Recommended by Caitlin and Ben:

Powers of Two by Joshua Wolf Shank

The Everything Store by Brad Stone

Try Blinkist for free for 14 days by going to [https://www.blinkist.com/simplify\][2], tapping on Try Blinkist at the top right, and entering the code acquired. 

Let us know what you thought of this episode, or just come say hi on Twitter! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller https://twitter.com/caitlinschiller [2], Ben at @bsto https://twitter.com/bsto [3]. You can write us all an email at podcast@blinkist.com [4].

This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, Maria Levacic & Stéphane Obadia at Blinkist

Acquired's David Rosenthal: 3 Secrets of the World's Most Successful Businesses

This week on the Blinkist Podcast, Blinkist Magazine Editor-in-Chief Caitlin Schiller speaks with David Allen, known as the man behind the productivity system Getting Things Done, and the bestselling book of the same name.

On today’s episode, they discuss what he calls “clear space,” and how easy it is to screw it up in your head; they talk about the happiness industry; and Abraham Lincoln, among other things. And near the end, you’ll find out why Allen isn’t a productivity or efficiency robot, but actually developed the system to have more time to do what he likes – like martial arts.

David Allen was born in Louisiana in 1945 and currently lives in Amsterdam. 

If you like what you heard, subscribe on iTunes and leave us a review here: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux]



Getting Things Done, Then What? The Truth Behind Productivity With David Allen

Today on the podcast, we welcome Cal Newport. Newport is Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University but most of us know him as the author of five excellent books, each of which takes a unique view on how to study better, find a career better, or, with his new book Deep Work, work better. 

Deep work, as he defines it, is professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate. 

Newport argues that the ability to work deeply is the most important skill to have in our knowledge economy. 

In our conversation, Newport explains why he thinks we need to teach people a new vocabulary for training focus, and why most of us are living the cognitive equivalent of a couch potato life. He also lays out how anyone can begin learning how to work deeply, right away.

Links!

- Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- Newport's blog, Study Hacks, also deserves a shout out. It’s full of examples and tips for how people manage to hunker down and make great things. You can find it here: http://calnewport.com/blog/

- That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Deep Work: Cal Newport's Formula That Will Transform Your Productivity

Hey guys, it’s Ben. I just wanted to post this quick programming note: I’m away for a little bit because, well, I’m having a baby! Eek! 

But before I head out for family time, Caitlin and I put together some highlights from all the podcasts we made in 2016. 

In 2016 we grew into a podcast with tens of thousands of listens. So this episode is a bit of a look back at how we did that, via a 2016 Blinkist podcast Sampler episode. I think it shows how we’ve not only grown and learned a lot about how to make nice podcasts, but also how important it is to talk to authors and thinkers, to hear them open up about how they came up with the ideas that change our lives. It’s definitely changed how I approach challenges, or my semi-creative work.

As usual, hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Blinkist 2016 Sampler

Blinkist Podcast 2016 Sampler: Valuable Life Lessons From Self-help Experts to Transform Your Life

Hey guys, it's Ben. Before you listen to this week's interview with Rachel Hills, author of The Sex Myth, please take our **~~exciting~~** survey:

------->  https://goo.gl/dYUjeo
(It's just eight questions and takes literally two minutes to fill out. Email me at podcast(at)blinkist.com if you can do it faster.)

Today we have an interview with Rachel Hills, author of The Sex Myth. We talk about sex, Disney movies and how to not let sex make you anxious — which, in her view, is a major societal problem. 

Hills is a writer and activist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, Buzzfeed, Jezebel, and more. You can check out her work at TheSexMyth(.)com. 

//// Use code sexmyth at Blinkist.com/Friends to get 14 free days of Blinkist. 

//// Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

//// That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook(.)com/niceaux].

Not Having Sex? Author Rachel Hills Explains Why Your Sex Life is Okay

Hey guys, it's Ben. Before you listen to this week's interview with Adam Alter, author of IRRESISTIBLE: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked (Penguin Press; March 7, 2017), please take our exciting survey
-------> goo.gl/dYUjeo
(It's just eight questions and takes literally two minutes to fill out. Email me at podcast(at)blinkist(dot)com if you can do it faster. Big thanks to those of you that already have.)

This episode is an interview with psychology and marketing professor, researcher, writer, speaker, and overall very smart person Adam Alter, author of IRRESISTIBLE: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked (Penguin Press; March 7, 2017). Alter published the bestselling and amazing and terrifying Drunk Tank Pink in 2013 and is currently on tour talking about his brand new book, Irresistible. The reviews are just starting to come out, and those of us lucky enough to get advance copies are all itchy to talk about it.

//// Use code irresistible at Blinkist.com/Friends to get 14 free days of Blinkist.

/// Check out the full transcript on the Blinkist Magazine: http://blnk.st/2mpnWiX Then read Irresistible on Blinkist: http://buff.ly/2mkGnoI

//// Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: blnk.st/28JBVIY

//// That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook(.)com/niceaux].

Candy Crush Your Addiction! Adam Alter On What Makes Everything So Irresistible

For this episode, we talked to Daniel Schacter, professor of psychology at Harvard and the author of The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. 

Our conversation focused on the three “sins of omission” outlined in his book on memory. The big bad memory sins, in order of badness, are: absent-mindedness, transience, blocking. Tune in for Schacter’s insights on how to remember what you have to remember and forget what you need to forget. 

____

Highlights:

"We tend to think of memory as being all about the past...But remembering the past has a lot in common with imagining the future."

"The most dangerous [of the seven sins] is absentmindedness: absentmindedness is the breakdown at the interface of attention and memory."

"The take-home message for everyday life: when you know there's something you want to remember...elaborate on that information. Try to relate it to other things you know."

____

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: blnk.st/28JBVIY

Forgetful? Harvard Prof Daniel Schacter Explains Why Our Memories Are So Flawed

Sandra Aamodt is a neuroscientist and former lifestyle dieter who wants to shout what she’s learned from the rooftops: according to the leading research in neuroscience, your brain has decided how much it wants you to weigh and will keep pushing you back to that weight *forever*. If you were already skeptical of popular weight loss methods, the ideas in Sandra’s book, Why Diets Make Us Fat, will be empowering. 

For the latest episode of Blinkist Podcast, I spoke to Sandra about the science of weight loss, the health advantages of mindful eating, what it’s like to sail to New Zealand, and why depriving yourself of office doughnuts never works.

You can find her book on Blinkist: http://blnk.st/2qbi13o
----------------------
Highlights:

On the myth of self-control: 
"It's just not true that somebody can simply decide to take control of their physiology and change it through sheer force of will."

On decision fatigue: 
"Most people make 200 to 300 food-related decisions per day."

On weight loss longevity: 
“Your brain will continue to try to push you back to the weight that it prefers forever.”

On food and common sense: 
"The best way to approach food is by relaxing and enjoying it and paying attention to what your body wants from moment to moment, and trusting that people have been maintaining stable weights for hundreds and thousands of years before anybody ever invented that little scale that you use to weigh chicken breasts."

--------------------------

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: blnk.st/28JBVIY

Weight Loss Not Working? How the Secrets of Neuroscience Will Make You Stop Dieting Forever

After collapsing from burnout and sleep deprivation in 2007, Arianna Huffington threw herself into the latest research on sleep, discovering that the sleepless nights she’d depending on to build her career had had profound negative consequences on her health. What she learned was transformative: these days, Huffington is so dedicated to getting a full night of sleep, she won’t even bring her smartphone into the bedroom, for fear of accidentally stimulating a bout of insomnia. 

We spoke with Huffington about getting onboard the sleep train last year, after she published The Sleep Revolution, an account of her personal experiences with sleep deprivation and a passionate call for others to learn from her mistakes. 

We think it was a pretty great interview. And since the podcast crew is currently working on some super-special, super-secret new stuff that’s totally inspired by Arianna’s super-simple, super-good advice, we wanted to share the episode with you again today. 

We hope you enjoy. But more than that, we hope you get some sleep.

//// Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: blnk.st/28JBVIY

//// That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook(.)com/niceaux].

Sleep Tips: The Secrets of Arianna Huffington’s Strict Bedtime Routine

An immersive sound meditation audiobook from Leo Cosendai. 

 Seven Days of Gong Meditation will guide you through seven sound meditation sessions with immersive sound and an exclusive introduction from Leo Cosendai.

Pre-Order Now

Extract: Seven Days of Sound Meditation, By Leo Cosendai, Read by Leo Cosendai

The Joy of 18
Recollections of what brought people joy when they were 18.
Composed in an Exquisite Corpse style. 
Produced by Sam, with music by Dan, for Ed and Resonance.

The Joy Of 18

Please visit us at blinkist.com/simplify to see our new podcast, Simplify!