The Rundown

• A fresh start feels powerful – until motivation fades. Here's how to set work goals that stick

• How to train your brain to do hard things and actually like it, from a Stanford psychiatrist

• Why Constant Availability At Work Affects Your Brain Like New Parenthood

• I started using Gemini in Google Sheets, and it's been a game-changer

• Getting Started with Cowork

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

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I've tried book summary services before. They always felt like CliffsNotes (but…worse) – not helpful for deciding if something's worth reading, and definitely not useful for books I'd already read.

Then I found Shortform and realized that what I wanted wasn’t actually a book summary in the first place.

I am now all in on this tool and this is why:

Before reading:

• Figure out if a book is worth my time

• They bring in other research and tell you if claims hold up

• Flag major critiques you should know about

• It’s like having a smart friend vet your reading list

After reading:

• Becomes my notes for books I loved

• I reference their guide for The Grieving Brain constantly

• Their contributors add the exact insights I would've made myself

• They did the work for me

The format:

• Bullet points and clear structure

• Easy to scan and find what you need

• Not just a shorter book you still have to read from start to finish to get any benefit

Perfect if you're drowning in your reading list or wish you'd taken better notes.

Right now, they are giving me a special offer for you guys – $50 (yep, really) off their annual plan. All you have to do is sign up with this link: http://shortform.com/express

🔥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

A fresh start feels powerful – until motivation fades. Here's how to set work goals that stick

So you set ambitious goals in January, but by February, they're sitting half-finished in a forgotten notebook. Sound familiar? This isn't about lacking willpower – psychology research reveals why fresh starts help us begin but rarely help us persist, and what actually works for sustained follow-through in our work..

Key Insights:

1. The "fresh start effect" creates temporary motivation because new beginnings feel like clean slates, but we often mistake that emotional lift for lasting motivation - when it's really just the appeal of feeling separated from last year's unfinished tasks.

2. Goals aligned with your personal values sustain effort far better than those driven by external pressure. Instead of "I should be more productive," ask how this goal connects to your growth or how you want to show up at work, such as "I want to feel less reactive and more strategic in client meetings."

3. Design for low-energy moments by using "when...then" implementation intentions that reduce the need for motivation. For example, instead of "be more organized," commit to "when I finish work on Friday, then I'll spend 10 minutes reviewing next week's priorities" - this concrete cue makes follow-through easier even on exhausting days.

Read the full article for the complete psychology behind temporal landmarks, detailed strategies for planning through motivation dips, and how to break goals into repeatable systems that work year-round.

⚙️ Optimization

How to train your brain to do hard things and actually like it, from a Stanford psychiatrist

Running a business means constantly tackling hard things - learning new systems, diving into financials, making difficult decisions. But our brains have gotten so used to convenience that activities requiring real effort feel more like punishment than progress. Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke explains why we avoid hard work and how to rewire your brain to actually enjoy the challenge.

Key Insights:

1. Make granular, intentional plans before the moment arrives when you need to do the hard thing - you already do this by planning weekly dinners or picking out clothes the night before, so apply the same approach to challenging work tasks like tackling that overdue bookkeeping session.

2. Accountability partnerships dramatically increase success rates because we accomplish more with others on a similar path. For example, University College London research found that when one partner in a couple makes a healthier change, the other is likely to make the same positive change, which is why joining a mastermind group or finding a business buddy works so well.

3. The discomfort at the beginning is temporary - pushing past it delivers longer-lasting dopamine than quick social media breaks. Think of it like a balance scale: dedicating two uninterrupted hours to financial planning adds weight to the "pain" side initially, but sticking with it produces a more sustained reward than scrolling for temporary relief.

Read the full article for Lembke's complete "Dopamine Nation" framework, advice on handling setbacks with self-compassion, and why moderation often works better than strict all-or-nothing goals.

⏲️ Time Management

Why Constant Availability At Work Affects Your Brain Like New Parenthood

Remember how new parents never fully sleep because part of their brain stays alert for the baby monitor? That's exactly what's happening to your brain when you're constantly available at work. This Forbes article explains how always being "on call" for emails and messages creates the same exhausting state of vigilance - and why your judgment and decision-making suffer as a result.

Key Insights:

1. Attentional residue builds when you're always waiting for the next interruption - even when you're not actively responding to messages, part of your attention stays engaged, making focus scattered and decision-making require more mental effort than it should.

2. Prolonged alertness shifts your thinking toward quicker, more familiar responses instead of reflective consideration. For example, you start relying more on habit than analysis and choosing safer options simply because complex problem-solving feels harder when your brain is already worn down.

3. Real recovery requires letting attention fully relax, but checking messages "just once" during off-hours keeps your brain in work mode. One practical shift is deciding specific times to respond during the day rather than reacting to everything the moment it appears, such as answering messages at three set points instead of constantly.

Read the full article for insights from mindfulness expert Daniel Goleman, strategies leaders can use to reduce constant availability expectations, and why protecting uninterrupted work time matters more than instant response times.

💻 Tools & Technology

I started using Gemini in Google Sheets, and it's been a game-changer

If you (like me) are not a spreadsheet genius but you also know that if you were, there's probably a lot more you could do with your spreadsheets, this is worth looking at. Google's Gemini AI integration in Sheets turns complex formulas and data analysis into simple conversations - no more spending 40 minutes hunting down the right nested formula on forums.

Key Insights:

1. Instead of manually building spreadsheet structures, you can simply prompt Gemini to create entire tables with specific columns. For example, asking for "a sales pipeline with columns for Lead Source, Contact Date, Deal Value, and Probability of Closing" builds the complete structure in seconds.

2. Data analysis becomes conversational - highlight your sales table and ask "What are the top three trends in this data?" and Gemini not only answers but generates relevant charts to back up its findings, eliminating the need to fiddle with Chart Editor settings.

3. Meeting prep gets significantly faster by using Gemini to summarize complex spreadsheets. For example, asking "Summarize this table and give me the top three talking points for my meeting" instantly provides high-level insights like which products are top sellers, who's leading in sales, and which regions perform best.

Read the full article for detailed examples of using Gemini for forecasting, formula creation, and understanding inherited spreadsheets from colleagues.

🤖 AI

Getting Started with Cowork

Running a business means juggling endless tasks that eat up your day – organizing files, creating reports, analyzing data, building presentations. What if you could hand off those multi-step projects and come back to polished, finished work? Claude's new Cowork feature (currently in research preview for Max plan subscribers on macOS – others can join the waitlist) brings agentic AI capabilities to your desktop without touching a line of code. If you don’t want to join the waitlist, check out Comet browser by Perplexity which can do many of the same things. Still, this is worth knowing about. 

Key Insights:

1. Unlike standard chat where you go back-and-forth, Cowork handles entire multi-step projects autonomously - from organizing hundreds of files to creating Excel spreadsheets with working formulas and conditional formatting.

2. The system breaks complex work into smaller tasks and coordinates them in parallel, meaning you can assign something complicated and actually step away while it gets done.

3. Everything runs in an isolated virtual machine on your computer with controlled file access, so Claude can make real changes to your files while maintaining security boundaries. For example, you could drop receipts in a folder and come back to a formatted expense report, or turn scattered meeting notes into a polished presentation.

Read the full article for detailed use cases, security considerations, usage limits, and troubleshooting tips for getting started with Cowork.

🎉 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!

• Got my main (and personal) goals done.

• Overall, a good week, with WOB time respected, positive feedback and early payment from a client :)

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

🔒Inner Circle: Events & Announcements

• Vote: What book would you like for book club? Vote here

• New Challenge: Doers Routine Bucket Challenge RSVP here

• Monday: Coworking & Questions — Doers Routine Bucket Challenge RSVP here

• Monday: {EU Time} Work ON Business. Theme: 4️⃣ Workflow & Customer Fulfillment  RSVP here

• Tuesday: Work ON Business. Theme: 4️⃣ Workflow & Customer Fulfillment RSVP here

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

• Accelerators: January 23 is your Office Hours  RSVP here

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I hope you found this valuable!

Wishing you much productivity!

- Jenae :)