The Three Month Vacation Podcast

Sean D'Souza

Sean D'Souza made two vows when he started up Psychotactics back in 2002. The first was that he'd always get paid in advance and the second was that work wouldn't control his life. He decided to take three months off every year. But how do you take three months off, without affecting your business and profits? Do you buy into the myth of "outsourcing everything and working just a few hours a week?" Not really. Instead, you structure your business in a way that enables you to work hard and then take three months off every single year. And Sean walks his talk. Since 2004, he's taken three months off every year (except in 2005, when there was a medical emergency). This podcast isn't about the easy life. It's not some magic trick about working less. Instead with this podcast you learn how to really enjoy your work, enjoy your vacation time and yes, get paid in advance.

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24 episodes
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Avg 15 min
English

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Saturday · 17 min
The Adventures in Greece: Part 1
Generally, a holiday is full of different and new experiences, but sometimes it can take a sudden, unusual turn. You hope that you don't have that crazy experience while on a flight 30,000 feet above the air, but that's just what happened. That was the start of our journey to Greece.
September 5 · 11 min
The Trip to Thailand: Part 2
Dogs are lovely and I love dogs so much, but stray dogs are quite something else. Here's part 2 of the trip to Thailand. Dogs, gifts, mango milkshakes and fishermen who took a break. Enjoy.
August 27 · 14 min
The Monsoon Trip to Thailand (and the relaunch of The Brain Audit)- Part 1
Almost 20 years after we launched The Brain Train, we weren't expecting anything dramatic to happen, and yet suddenly it was on a bestseller list. Not the New York Times bestseller list, but in Thailand. Here's the story, not of the book alone, but of our travel through Thailand as part of the three-month vacation.
August 22 · 8 min
The importance of "normal speed" in learning
When you speak to somebody, do they get impatient? When you do an illustration, does it feel like the other person is waiting for ages? This is because you and I are operating at below normal speed. When we operate at below normal speed, we are reaching for information, and so we struggle quite a lot. What is normal speed, and how do you achieve that normal speed? That's what this episode is all about.
August 15 · 10 min
Why Most Storytelling Is Terrible (And Why Clutter Plays a Huge Role)
When you think of storytelling, you just think of a sequence or what happens next, but the reality is that storytelling is a curated amount of information. Anything that is not required simply becomes clutter, and clutter destroys a story. How do you recognise this clutter? Well, there are three ways.
August 7 · 8 min
How I used AI for my Article (And what it did to my writing)
Some people are adamant that they will never use AI. However, that's a tiny, obscure minority. AI is here to stay and that means we've all dipped our toes in it. Well, I took a bath one day. I got AI to tidy up my article. What happened next? Let's find out.
July 24 · 7 min
How to Sidestep Perfection—And How to Use "Quantity" to Your Advantage
Many of us burn out simply because we live in the past. How long the past? We could go all the way to our childhood, and it's there where we learn how to go for perfection. It's this level of perfection that continues to drive us crazy for the rest of our lives. Is there a way out? Yes, there is. It's called quantity. Instead of trying to go for quality, you get to that stage of quality by working on your quantity. Doesn't that seem strange? Check out this episode and decide for yourself.
July 21 · 7 min
1% Better Every Day: What Does It Even Mean?
We hear that somehow we have to get 1% better every day. However, how do you measure this improvement? Can it be measured at all? And what does it mean?
July 12 · 13 min
The Roundabout Principle: Why Self-Management Actually Works (And How to Make It Stick)
Once a course ends, it's often just the beginning of a journey. Think about it for a moment: you've finished an article writing course, and you've just managed to put all the pieces together. Now you need to keep going. That's the point when the teacher leaves the room, and so does the group that held everything together. We've tried, tried and tried again to make this follow up work but it's been less than successful. Then we hit upon three specific steps, and everything changed. Here are those steps.
June 27 · 18 min
Why We Struggle To Acquire Skills (And How The Mindset Of The Teacher Is The Root Cause)
June 20 · 29 min
Why Understanding The Faces Of Overwhelm Helps You Sidestep Frustration
June 13 · 23 min
Eternal Sales Page Dilemma-How to choose the precise headline to get clients interested.
June 6 · 18 min
Test How Your Audience Will React To Your Story
May 30 · 15 min
Three Ways To Motivate Yourself Again (And Restart What You Want To Do)
May 23 · 20 min
Charlie Brown Moments: Why We Choke Under Pressure (And How To Practice Under Lucy Moments)
May 16 · 28 min
Intense Story: Why Starting With The "Stuck Point" Creates Intense Stories
May 9 · 10 min
The Art of Less: Why the Best Professionals Work with a Smaller Palette
We are constantly inundated with something new and improved. It seems almost impossible to keep up and we scramble for new tools. But what if we could pare back a lot and stay with a lot less? How can we achieve a much bigger "wow factor" with a lot less?
May 2 · 15 min
Storytelling: Misdirection
It's not important to win an argument in person. However, when writing a book or creating a presentation, you need to get a slightly new idea across. However, what if the client has a strong counter-opinion? In this episode we look at how to use misdirection to get across an idea that's new and make it feel like it was the client's idea all along.
April 25 · 6 min
Storytelling: Why the Ending Matters Most of All When You're Crafting a Story
Notice something strange when you tell a story. People are always waiting for you to finish because they want to know the point of the story. This subtle curiosity level gives us an advantage. It means that we can play director and change the path of the story. Every story seems to have a predefined pathway; yet what if we took one story and swung it in different ways? Wouldn't that be amazing? Let's find out how it's done.
April 18 · 19 min
How to Overcome the Obvious Fears of Group Consulting — Part 2
One-on-one consulting seems logical, even superior to group consulting. It's why clients consistently prefer it. Which is why it seems almost reckless to move to group consulting. All the obvious fears bubble up madly. How can we tackle these fears and keep the client more than happy? Let's find out in this second episode.

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