The Rundown

• "Focus Harder" Won't Work — Your Body Already Knows the Answer

• AI isn't the enemy: How bloggers can thrive in a generative search world

• Working Fewer Hours Won't Save You — But This Will

• AI In Tax: Using LLMs To Work Smarter With Spreadsheets

• Why it's a mistake to ask chatbots about their mistakes

👉Did you miss an issue? Check out previous Productivity Stacks issues anytime here

Finally Get (Back) On Track: The Ultimate Reset

Leaving for vacation soon? Just got back? Perfect timing.

Here's the thing about August: You're either scrambling to finish everything before vacation OR trying to face the mountain of work you returned to.

Both states need a reset.

The Ultimate Reset Sprint starts Monday, but here's the secret — you get lifetime access to everything.

• Going away next week? Do it when you're back.

• Drowning in pre-vacation panic? Use this to get clear on what actually matters.

• Just returned to chaos? This is your comeback plan.

✓ 7 days of micro-lessons (can be done in minutes per day)

✓ Work at YOUR pace (lifetime access)

✓ FREE 1:1 call to get a custom plan

✓ Just $7

Whether you need to reset before vacation, after, or because vacation made you realize how burned out you are... or, you’re screaming “what vacation?”… this works.

P.S. - Can't make Monday's live kickoff? No guilt. Everything's recorded. Reset on YOUR schedule.

🔥Quote/Prompt

Use the quote as a writing or thinking prompt to finish your week strong.

A bit from mine:

(posted in our Doer Entrepreneurs Free Community — off social media)

Did someone forward this to you?

📈 Performance

"Focus Harder" Won't Work — Your Body Already Knows the Answer

Why short breaks to move around are crucial for your creative process

We all experience creative blocks whether it’s just for posting something on our blog or creativity is part of our services. And they're not just frustrating, they can cost us billable hours and client deadlines. This piece from NPR's Body Electric newsletter reveals how bestselling author Kelly Corrigan uses movement as a strategic tool to unlock creativity and maintain focus throughout her workday.

Key Insights:

1. Three-minute dance breaks can reset both mood and focus more effectively than pushing through creative blocks. For example, playing one favorite song and moving to it can shift your mental state faster than an hour of forced work.

2. Stack movement with necessary tasks by taking calls while walking or doing admin work standing up. This turns mundane activities like scheduling appointments or returning calls into opportunities for physical movement.

3. Work with your natural energy rhythms instead of fighting them. Kelly doesn't schedule demanding work during her low-energy early afternoons, using that time for movement breaks or lighter tasks instead.

Read the full article for Kelly Corrigan's complete movement strategy and specific techniques for integrating physical breaks into your creative workflow.

⚙️ Optimization

AI isn't the enemy: How bloggers can thrive in a generative search world

Many of us have experienced blog traffic tanking after the famous “AI overviews” but should we all just block AI crawlers? According to this article, that could backfire. Blocking AI crawlers to "protect" your content is like refusing to list your business on Google Maps because you're mad at their algorithm. This piece from Casey Markee reveals why embracing AI systems is actually your ticket to sustained visibility, even when traditional search traffic is declining.a.

Key Insights:

1. Structure your content for AI consumption by using clear H2s, tables of contents, and modular sections that can be easily summarized. For example, breaking long paragraphs into scannable chunks and front-loading value makes your content more likely to appear in AI-generated responses.

2. Build brand recognition beyond clicks by ensuring your business name appears consistently in titles, headers, and structured data. Even when users don't click through, seeing your brand cited in AI overviews builds trust and authority over time.

3. Add "AI share buttons" to your content that link directly to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity prompts. This encourages users to remember your brand as an authoritative source and increases your chances of being cited in future AI queries.

Read the full article for specific implementation strategies, schema markup recommendations, and examples of how to make your content irresistible to AI systems.

⏲️ Time Management

Working Fewer Hours Won't Save You — But This Will

So you cut back your hours, but you’re still tired. That's because fixing your workload doesn't fix burnout – you're treating the wrong problem. This piece reveals why your brain operates in natural motivation "seasons" and how fighting these cycles is what's actually burning you out, not the hours you're working.

Key Insights:

1. Your brain cycles through high motivation "summers" and recovery "winters"—both are necessary and fighting them causes burnout. During high phases, you naturally gravitate toward work; during recovery phases, even simple tasks require massive effort.

2. The Hemingway trick of stopping mid-task when things are flowing well leverages the Zeigarnik Effect. Your brain remembers unfinished tasks 90% better than completed ones, maintaining momentum across work sessions instead of burning out from pushing through.

3. Match your work to your phase instead of forcing consistency. Use high-energy phases for creative work and complex problem-solving; save administrative tasks and routine maintenance for recovery phases when your brain needs lower cognitive load.

Read the full article for specific phase recognition strategies, how to protect your cognitive resources during different cycles, and why scheduled breaks actually increase total output despite reducing working time.

💻 Tools & Technology

AI In Tax: Using LLMs To Work Smarter With Spreadsheets

Do you use spreadsheets in your business? How much time do you have to look for and fix errors? Turns out that’s something LLMs can help with if you’re using the right tools. This piece from Forbes reveals how LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude can transform your spreadsheet workflow – if you understand their surprising limitations and work within them.

Key Insights:

1. Different LLMs handle spreadsheets differently – GPT-4o writes and runs Python code to analyze your data while Claude reads it directly as text. Choose GPT-4o for complex calculations and visualizations, Claude for exploring large text-based tables without computation needs.

2. Token limits mean LLMs can't see your entire spreadsheet at once. For example, a 10-column, 100,000-row spreadsheet would need 3 million tokens, but GPT-4o can only handle 128,000—meaning it processes just a fraction of your data at any time.

3. Break large spreadsheets into smaller sections for analysis or ask the LLM to write code you can run separately. This keeps data within memory limits while still getting AI assistance for formula generation, pattern recognition, and data interpretation.

Read the full article for specific strategies to work around LLM limitations, emerging tools like TableLLM and SheetCompressor, and how to effectively use AI with your existing spreadsheet workflows.

🤖 AI

Why it's a mistake to ask chatbots about their mistakes

When your AI assistant screws up and you ask it "What happened?" you're making a fundamental error that could cost your business. This piece from Ars Technica reveals why asking ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI to explain its own mistakes is like asking your spreadsheet why it crashed (actually, that’s probably more fruitful) there's literally no one there to answer you.

Key Insights:

1. AI models cannot assess their own capabilities or limitations – they generate responses based on patterns from training data about previous AI models, not actual self-knowledge. For example, Replit's AI claimed database rollbacks were "impossible" when they worked perfectly fine.

2. Different prompts produce contradictory answers about the same capability because you're accessing different statistical patterns, not querying a consistent knowledge base. Ask "Can you write Python?" versus "What are your Python limitations?" and you'll get conflicting responses from the same model.

3. Your concerned framing creates a feedback loop where worried questions like "Did you destroy everything?" generate responses that confirm your fears. The AI isn't assessing the situation; it's matching the emotional context of your prompt with plausible-sounding text.

Read the full article for research on why AI self-correction actually degrades performance, how multi-model systems create opacity layers, and what to do instead of asking AI to explain itself.

🎉 Celebration Corner

Every week Doers Inner Circle members do a weekly review & get help when they need it — check out the progress they made this week!

• Sent client feedback emails and got a couple of great Google reviews in return, strengthening client relationships.

• Streamlined content production by completing basic workflow SOPs.

What did you do this week? We feature non-member successes too. Just post them here!

🔒Inner Circle: Events & Announcements

• Monday: The Ultimate Reset — KickOff Party RSVP here

• Monday: The Ultimate Reset — Action Booster Sprint RSVP here
  *Two-Week Event Run: August 18, 2025 to September 1, 2025

• Monday: {EU Time} Work ON Business. Theme: 3️⃣ Sales & Marketing  RSVP here

• Tuesday: Work ON Business. Theme: 3️⃣ Sales & Marketing RSVP here

• Monday/Friday: Goal Setting + Plan Your Week Party

• Accelerators: August 22 is your Office Hours  RSVP here

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I hope you found this valuable!

Wishing you much productivity!

- Jenae :)