Mridu Parikh

What Mridu talked about

Mridu Parikh talks about productivity as something you measure by how you feel at the end of the day rather than by how many tasks you completed. She argues that for driven, overachieving people nothing ever feels like enough, so she suggests setting a limit of three to five intentional priorities per day to have something concrete to measure against. She also draws a distinction between being organized and being productive, which she says many people conflate, and describes a simple fix for visual distraction: clearing everything off your desk and out of your peripheral vision rather than organizing it.

In the conversation she lays out her case for a protected, distraction-free power hour, ideally first thing in the morning, which she says can add up to 10 to 20 hours a month spent on work you've been avoiding. She contrasts soothing activities like scrolling with self-care activities like walking, arguing they feel similar in the moment but leave you in different states afterward. The episode also touches on stress, ADHD, to-do lists, journaling, and gratitude.

The show

The Total Entrepreneur is a weekly conversation with founders, researchers, and health experts about what actually moves entrepreneurial performance across mind, body, spirit, and business.