Episodes
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** Grab tickets for The Energy Game Melbourne launch (29 July, 6:30pm) here and order The Energy Game book here.**
What does it take to realise you've hit burnout? For me, it wasn't a dramatic collapse. It was a fantasy about being hospitalised just so no one could contact me, and the hardest decision I'd face would be lime or raspberry jelly.
When I shared that thought with a friend who is also a clinical psychologist, she told me she'd heard it so many times she had a name for it. That moment of recognition, equal parts relief and horror, was the beginning of understanding just how depleted I had become.
This is part one of a two-part crossover with the This Is Work podcast, hosted by Shelley Johnson. Shelley asked me all about my year of burnout, the early warning signs I missed, and what I found when I went looking for a way out that didn't require completely overhauling my life. We also get into The Energy Game, my new book, and the framework behind it, including the four energy types, the three energy accounts, and why the phrase "I'm tired" is actually making it harder to solve the problem.
Shelley and I discuss:
The "getting hit by a bus" fantasy: what it signals about how depleted you really are, and why a clinical psychologist says she hears this constantly in private practice The three early warning signs of burnout that I missed for months, covering the physical, mental, and emotional dimensions The push through paradox: why working 60 or 70 hours a week can make you progressively less productive until everything goes on strike Why the four energy types (achievement addict, over-committer, perfectionist, and people pleaser) are seasonal, not fixed, and what it means when you take any of them to the extreme Why thinking of energy as one big concept makes burnout harder to solve, and how splitting it into three separate accounts (physical, mental, emotional) gives you somewhere to actually start The minimum viable dose philosophy behind The Energy Game, and why the 53 challenges in the book were designed for people who are too exhausted for anything that takes real effortKey quotes
"When you're in the depths of exhaustion, that advice just doesn't cut it."
"Clarity is always the first step to problem-solving."
Connect with Shelley via LinkedIn, or through Boldside’s Instagram and website. For more conversations on meaningful work, sustainable success, and showing up as your best self – check out Shelley’s podcast this is work.
Find out your energy type here: Energy type assessment
My latest book The Energy Game is out now. 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-imber.ck.page/subscribe
Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.
Get in touch at [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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If your organisation has moved its AI licenses onto a per-use plan, every single chat thread your team sends is now adding to a bill. Some companies are already burning through their entire IT budget for AI within the first couple of months of the year, and most staff have no idea their usage is costing anything at all.
It doesn't have to be a mystery. There are simple habits, from which model you default to, to what time of day you send your first message, that change how far your usage actually stretches.
In this How I AI episode, Neo and I unpack tokenomics, the economics of how you actually use your AI. We get into how usage limits work across the major platforms, why the timing of your first chat each day matters more than you'd think, and what changes once you move from a personal plan to an enterprise one.
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:
What tokenomics actually means and why it's suddenly everywhere How Claude's usage window works differently to ChatGPT and Copilot The simple morning habit that changes how far your usage window stretches Why enterprise billing is shifting, and what that means for your team's budget What managers should be doing before token usage gets out of hand 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 loadConnect 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Missing episodes?
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** Grab tickets for The Energy Game Melbourne launch (29 July, 6:30pm) here and pre-order The Energy Game book here.**
Writing a book is hard. But getting a publisher to say yes to your book? That is an entirely different challenge, and one that most aspiring authors know almost nothing about.
What actually happens when a proposal lands on a publisher's desk? Who else needs to sign off before an offer is made? And in a world where anyone can ask AI to explain any topic, why has "great content" stopped being enough on its own?
This one is a little different from my usual episodes. It's a recording from a live webinar I did with Izzy Yates, head of Penguin Publishing Lab at Penguin Random House Australia, who has published my last three books, including my newest one, The Energy Game.
We unpack the full journey of a book, from proposal to bookshelf, including how Penguin's internal acquisitions process works, why pre-orders matter far more than most people realise, what actually gets retailers excited, and whether you can land a deal without a big platform.
If you have ever thought about writing a book, or you are in the middle of writing one right now, this is the conversation I wish I had heard before I started.
Izzy and I discuss:
What made my first book proposal stand out, and the key ingredients Izzy looks for in every strong proposal The formula publishers use to evaluate a book: the quality of the idea multiplied by the size of the author's platform, and why it's more nuanced than it sounds Why authors who weave personal story into their content are having more success than those who rely on expertise alone How Penguin's two-stage internal process works, from publishing meeting to acquisitions meeting, before any offer is made The full editorial journey from first draft to printed book: structural edit, copy edit, and proofread How titles and covers are developed collaboratively, and what the team considers when landing on a final design Why pre-orders matter so much and how they create a virtuous cycle with retailers and chart placement Whether you can get a book deal without an existing audience or platform What topics and themes Izzy sees as most resonant right now, particularly in the health and personal development crossover spacePre-order The Energy Game: https://amzn.to/48ID29M and book your ticket to the Melbourne book launch at the Malthouse Theatre on July 29 with Lisa Leong here.
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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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If you've ever stared at a model picker and wondered whether to click Flash, Sonnet, Opus, Instant, or Think Deeper, you are not alone. These naming conventions are genuinely confusing, and most people just pick something and hope it works. The stakes are higher than they might seem, though. Token misuse has left some companies with eye-watering AI bills, including one case where a single employee ran up a $500,000 tab in a month.
The good news is that there is a simple mental model that cuts through all the noise, and once you have it, choosing the right model for any task takes seconds.
In this How I AI episode, Neo and I walk through the four major AI platforms, Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot, and break down exactly which model to use and when. We also get into tokens, usage limits, and why matching the model to the task matters far more than most people realise.
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:
Why ignoring model numbers and reading the small print instead saves a lot of confusion What Fable and Mythos are, and why you can't use them right now How token usage works and why the right model choice protects your access 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 loadConnect 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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We're using AI more than ever. And yet, according to research from Glean's Work AI Institute, only 10% of Australians say AI is significantly improving organisational performance.
The truth is that most organisations have done what Dom Price calls the "Woodstock theory" of AI adoption: build it and they will come. Throw the tools out there, hope people figure it out, and wait for the productivity miracle that never quite arrives.
In this episode, I sit down with Dom Price, former Atlassian work futurist and one of the sharpest thinkers I know on how organisations actually work. Dom joins me off the back of new Australian research showing the enormous gap between AI adoption and AI impact, and we dig into exactly why that gap exists and what to do about it.
If you care about building genuine AI capability in your team rather than just looking busy with AI, this conversation will make you rethink where to start.
Dom and I discuss:
The "Woodstock theory" of AI adoption, and why most organisations are getting almost nothing back for their investment Botsitting and botshitting: two new terms that capture exactly what's going wrong with how we use AI at work The minus one, zero, plus one framework for figuring out where AI actually belongs in your organisation Why managers are becoming the unexpected bottleneck in an AI-enabled workplace Dom's board of directors inside Claude, and how he uses it to catch his own blind spots The question Dom asks every leadership team that almost no one can answerKey quotes
"If you have inefficient and ineffective processes and people systems, and you layer in AI, you are doing stupid things faster."
"Most of the businesses I work with in the ASX, their human operating system's Windows 95. So you might have Claude 5.9. You're using Ferrari-style horsepower in your technology, but the way your humans and teams work and meet and make decisions... all those things are Windows 95."
Connect with Dom Price on Instagram, LinkedIn and his website.
If this conversation sparked something, you'll also love my recent chat with Professor Scott Anthony on how AI has changed the way he approaches problem-solving and his day-to-day workflows. 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast ButlerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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** 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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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 biasKey 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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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 onesKEY 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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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 weekKey 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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**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 loadConnect 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Most professionals are terrible at talking about themselves. Not because they lack substance, but because no one ever taught them that being interesting is a skill, and that skill can be learned.
Maz Farrelly has spent decades on the other side of that problem. As the executive producer behind Big Brother, The X Factor, and Celebrity Apprentice, she has auditioned over 20,000 people, had her content watched more than eight billion times, and once broke Twitter deliberately. In this episode, I sit down with Maz to unpack what the TV industry understands about attention that most professionals never learn, and how to bring that same thinking into the way you pitch yourself and show up in any room.
Maz and I discuss:
Why you have about 10 seconds to earn someone's attention, and what TV producers do with that window that most professionals don't The one word missing from almost every professional pitch ("so that") Why adapting your introduction for every room you walk into isn't being fake — it's understanding your audience How to share your credentials and achievements without sounding like you're bragging The case Maz makes against performed humility on LinkedIn, and better alternatives that actually build trust Why Maz banned email entirely on Dancing with the Stars UK, replaced it with two 10-minute standing meetings a day, and had only four phone calls across 100 shows What Gogglebox taught Maz about the power of doing the exact opposite of what everyone else in your industry is doingKey quotes
"If you can help people, you need to show off. Because I need to be able to buy you, and I can't buy you if I don't know you exist."
"The first line's job is to make me read the second. It's so obvious, and hardly anyone does it."
Connect with Maz Farrelly on Instagram, LinkedIn, and her website.
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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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We put someone on the moon in 1969. We didn't put wheels on suitcases until 1972. The problem was: Nobody had stopped to notice the problem existed in the first place.
That gap - between the problems people will tell you about, the ones they'll only admit after a drink, and the ones they don't even know they have - is exactly where Maz Farrelly operates. In this bonus conversation with the executive producer behind Big Brother, The X Factor, and Celebrity Apprentice, we get into the practical mechanics of walking into a meeting and already having the room on your side before you've said a single word.
If you have a pitch coming up - for an idea, a budget, or yourself - this episode has something useful in it for you.
Maz and I discuss:
The "warming up the room" technique Maz uses at the start of every pitch meeting, and why it works How she used reverse psychology to make network executives desperate for the idea she told them she wasn't going to pitch Why the smartest operators don't sell — they make themselves buyable The three layers of problems your clients have, and why cracking the third layer is where the real opportunity lives The suitcase story: why solving problems people don't know they have is the most valuable thing you can do in any industry Why Maz brought too much cake to a Microsoft meeting, and how it made her go viral inside the building without spending a cent on advertising What "sticky information" is, and why it determines whether anything you said in a meeting actually mattersKey quotes
"The smart money doesn't sell. The smart money is bought."
"Hope is not a strategy."
And if you haven't listened to the main episode with Maz yet, start there. It's all about how to make yourself impossible to ignore. Listen to the main episode here.
Connect with Maz Farrelly on Instagram, LinkedIn, and her website.
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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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**Join the AI Agent Bootcamp here: https://www.inventium.ai/learnvirtually-agents**
You type a research question into your AI tool, get back a perfectly serviceable answer, and still feel like something's missing. The output isn't wrong, exactly. It just didn't quite hit the mark. The culprit, more often than not, is the prompt you started with.
The good news: there's a smarter way to approach this, and it doesn't involve becoming a prompt engineering expert.
In this How I AI episode, Neo and I walk through the agent Neo reaches for more than any other he has built: the Research Prompt Builder. We get into how it works, when to use it with a thinking model instead of deep research, and how pairing it with NotebookLM can get you genuinely well-briefed in a fraction of the usual time.
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 episode:
Why your research prompt matters more than the tool you use How Neo's Research Prompt Builder actually works before any research begins When a thinking model is a better choice than deep research How to go from a raw research output to a proper briefing using NotebookLM 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 loadConnect 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.
And here are links we promised:
Download the Research Prompt Builder agent here: https://amantha-imber.kit.com/41cec7c48c NotebookLM (notebooklm.google.com) - Google's learning tool that lets you upload up to 50 sources and generate a podcast episode, ask questions, and get cited answers from your own documents.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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Knowing how hiring works does not prepare you for what job hunting actually feels like right now. Today’s guest, Nicole, found that out the hard way. She has spent 30 years on the hiring side of the table. She has interviewed hundreds of candidates, read thousands of applications, and knows exactly what good looks like. So when she re-entered the job market after a six-month sabbatical, she found herself starting from scratch.
Nicole, a senior executive, knew how the game used to work. What she didn't know was how much it had changed. AI-generated resumes flooding inboxes. Applicant tracking systems filtering on past performance. Three or four hundred applications for every role, most of them indistinguishable from one another. The playbook she had built over decades wasn't quite fitting the game anymore.
This episode is part of The Work Edit, a new format on How I Work where I sit down with someone facing a real professional challenge and we work through it together. Nicole came to me wanting help with the part of job hunting that was giving her the most trouble: getting from application to shortlist. We get practical about what actually works right now, from why a written application might be the weakest version of your pitch, to how to use AI to run your own mock interview and genuinely sharpen your performance in ways most people never bother doing.
If you are currently in the job market, or know someone who is, this one is worth sharing.
We discuss:
Why the job market has shifted so dramatically in the last few years, and what that means for experienced candidates re-entering the workforce How applicant tracking systems work and why they tend to filter out people with non-linear careers or future-focused skills The case for treating your job search as a sales role, and what that reframe actually changes about how you show up Why a short video pitch cuts through in a way that a written application simply cannot right now, and what makes the difference between a video that opens doors and one that falls flat What AI fluency actually looks like in a resume or cover letter, and how to find and remove the tells that signal lazy prompting to any recruiter paying attention How to use AI to run your own mock interview, and why stopping short of the critique step means leaving most of the value on the tableKey quotes
"If you're not AI fluent, why would you be considered for a job in this day and age?"
"I think if you are purely relying on your resume and cover letter being the best out of 400 applications, that is a losing game."
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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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**Join the AI Agent Bootcamp here: https://www.inventium.ai/learnvirtually-agents**
You sit down to research something for work, open a few tabs, type a vague query into AI, and get back something that feels… fine. Technically an answer. Not quite useful. Meanwhile, that report you've been working on probably needs another set of eyes, but getting real feedback takes time you don't have, so you send it anyway and hope for the best.
There's a better way. In this How I AI episode, Neo and I walk through three agents we think every knowledge worker genuinely needs, including two we're giving away for free.
How I AI, 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 episode:
Why a basic AI research query often isn't enough, and what to do instead What a critical thinking agent actually checks for, and when it earns its place What a cross-functional advisory board agent is, and who it's built for How long it really takes to build agents that work reliably 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 loadConnect 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.
Here are links to the free agents mentioned in this episode:
Research agent: https://amantha-imber.kit.com/41cec7c48c Critical Thinking agent: https://amantha-imber.kit.com/51dd2a9719 Join the AI Agent Bootcamp to access the Advisory Board agentMy 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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**This week I'm sharing a crossover episode from the Humans, being. podcast with the wonderful Lael Stone. It's one of the more personal chats I've done in a while. We talk about my burnout year, the tiny experiments that brought me back, AI and where I think it's headed, and the uncomfortable question of whether being ordinary might actually be enough. I hope you love it as much as I loved having it. You can find the original episode on Humans Being here.**
Amantha calls her AI 'Sunny'. She talks to it on the drive to the gym, like she's chatting to a friend. And it has quietly changed how she works, how she writes, and how she gets the thinking out of her own head.
Dr. Amantha Imber is one of the sharpest, most generous humans I know. An organisational psychologist, the founder of Inventium, host of How I Work, the first Australian to win a Thinkers50 Innovation Award, the author of four bestselling books, and her brand new one, The Energy Game, lands in July.
In this episode, we discuss Amantha's burnout year and the tiny experiments that crawled her back, the ones she calls boosts, rest, and protect. Why "fake rest" (Netflix while you scroll) won't fill the bucket. And we talk about the childhood praise imprint that drives so many of us: what if the goal isn't to be more, but to be okay with being ordinary?
We explore:
The pressure we accept being human and thinking we must do it all The hit-by-a-bus fantasy and what it tells us about how women carry stress AI as a thought partner, and how Amantha uses it without losing the human bit What we want for our daughters, and the thinking skills we don't want to outsourceConnect with Humans, being™:
Web: humansbeing.au YouTube: @humansbeingwithlaelstoneMy 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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**Join the AI Agent Bootcamp here: https://www.inventium.ai/learnvirtually-agents**
There's a question you've answered a hundred times before. You know the one. Someone pings you, you stop what you're doing, dig through a document or two, and type out the same response you've typed a dozen times this month. It doesn't feel catastrophic in the moment, but across a week it quietly eats hours.
A knowledge agent is built for exactly this problem. It holds the information so you don't have to be the one constantly retrieving it.
In this How I AI episode, Neo and I unpack what a knowledge agent is, how it works, and how to build one that actually saves you time, whether you're fielding questions solo or trying to help a whole team self-serve.
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:
What a knowledge agent actually is and how it differs from other agents The kinds of questions and roles that benefit most from one How to share a knowledge agent across a team without creating problems What makes knowledge good (or bad) for an agent to work from The three things you need to set up a knowledge agent properly 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 loadConnect 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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There's a moment a lot of professionals know well. You put real thought into a LinkedIn post, hit publish, and watch the likes trickle in. Five. Maybe six. One comment from a colleague you personally recruited into the thread.
Meanwhile, your feed has started to look like it was written by the same person. Polished, vaguely inspirational, and somehow saying nothing at all.
In this episode, I sit down with Jessi Hempel, senior editor-at-large at LinkedIn and host of the award-winning podcast Hello Monday, to get inside what's actually happening on the platform right now. Jessi has spent 25 years in tech journalism and eight years at LinkedIn, and she has a front-row seat to how AI is reshaping what it means to have a voice, both on the platform and in your career more broadly.
We talk about why your LinkedIn profile is doing more heavy lifting than any post you'll ever write, how to approach content in a way that builds real conversation rather than chasing reach, and what the rise of AI-generated posts actually means for anyone trying to show up as themselves online.
If you've been feeling like something's off with how your content is landing lately, this conversation will give you some much-needed clarity.
Jessi and I discuss:
The part of your LinkedIn profile that matters far more than your posts (and that most people ignore) Why Jessi's posting advice runs counter to what most social media gurus will tell you The one habit that has made the biggest difference to how Jessi's own posts find reach What AI-generated content is doing to trust on LinkedIn, and where Jessi thinks it's all heading The creator who has built one of the most engaged communities on the platform, and what makes her strategy work Why Jessi thinks a major career shift is becoming the smarter move for mid-career professionals right now The skill that no bootcamp can teach you, and why it matters more than ever in the age of AIKey quotes
"If I get off of this conversation and I jump onto LinkedIn and I read a post from you and it sounds like an LLM wrote it, I'm gonna really have distaste in my mouth."
"Success is being in real conversations that matter with people who have the potential to elevate the issues of concern for you in your career."
Connect with Jessi Hempel on Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out her newsletter and listen to her podcast Hello Monday.
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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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There are interviews, and then there are conversations. The best podcast hosts know the difference, and the gap between the two is harder to close than it looks.
In this bonus episode, I get to turn the tables. Jessi Hempel (host of the podcast Hello Monday and senior editor-at-large at LinkedIn) and I nerded out on the craft we both love: what it actually takes to walk into an interview prepared, how to stay present when a guest goes flat, and the moment a scripted exchange becomes something neither person planned for.
If you've ever wondered what goes on in a host's head before and during a recording, this one pulls back the curtain.
Jessi and I discuss:
Why Jessi walks into every interview with no notes, and the preparation habit that makes it possible The AI experiment that went badly wrong, and what it taught Jessi about how not to prepare How to tell whether a podcast host has actually read the book (there's a tell, and writers always spot it) What to do when a guest is giving you nothing and the conversation is going nowhere The hardest interview challenge to crack, especially with big-name guests on book tour The moment an interview tips into a real conversation, and why you can't fake your way thereKey quotes
"The process of slowing down and sitting with material and stumbling over it and forgetting a lot of it, but just sort of tracing my own mind to figure out where I feel curious about it, is the process of preparation."
"The best interviews tip into conversations."
Connect with Jessi Hempel on Instagram. and LinkedIn. Check out her newsletter and listen to her podcast Hello Monday.
If you haven't already, listen to the main episode with Jessi - where she gets into what actually works on LinkedIn in 2026. Check it out 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 [email protected]
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**
The word "agents" is everywhere right now. It shows up in product updates, LinkedIn posts, and conversations at work, and yet for a lot of people, it still doesn't quite click. What actually is an agent? Is it the same as agentic AI? And does any of this actually matter for the way you work?
If you've been nodding along while quietly unsure, you're in good company. The AI industry has done a genuinely poor job of naming things, and it's created a lot of unnecessary confusion.
In this How I AI episode, Neo and I cut through the jargon and get into what agents actually are, how they differ from agentic AI, and where both individuals and teams can start using them right now.
What you’ll learn:
Why the terminology around AI tools is so confusing, and the key distinction between "agents" and "agentic AI" that actually matters in practice. What an agent is versus what agentic AI is How individuals can use agents for tasks they repeat regularly How teams can use agents to standardise outputs like reports, reduce the burden of repetitive questions, and let people self-service answers using a knowledge agent What the best starting question is to know if a problem can be solved by an agentConnect with Neo Aplin on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neoaplin/) and via 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 [email protected]
Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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