The Three Month Vacation Podcast

Why going backwards is often a good sign of progress

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When we think about the journey of a thousand miles, we often assume it means constant forward movement. We picture ourselves taking one step after an...

How to Make Additional Time Out of Thin Air.

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

There's hardly anyone who says they have loads of time. We all want 36 hours per day and eight days a week, and yet most of the time the time we so de...

Why Self-Study Works for Some People and Fails Miserably for Others

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We believe coaching is often the best approach but it's not always the case. You might find an average coach and make little progress or you could hav...

Why all the productivity in the world may not matter after all

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

You are told that you have to be productive, but how productive is productive? We have been at work for close to 26 years, and we still have a full da...

Why Feedback Barely Helps Progress (And Why "Instant Feedback" is Crucial, Instead).

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If you ask most people what is the core of learning, they will give you something banal like hard work or practise; however, they will also state that...

Why Habits Fail Consistently (And Why You Need a Habit System Instead)

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most of us still accept the idea that you need 21 days to build a habit. Yet, most habits can fall apart even if you labour at them with dedication. T...

Why Habit-Change Is Almost Always Temporary (And How to Create Lasting Habits)

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If habit change is really about personal effort, why do so many carefully built habits quietly fall over the cliff? The answer isn't motivation and it...

How to speed up answering e-mail—and everyday messages as well

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We are constantly typing, whether it's on our phone or at the computer. Sometimes, it's just a simple message; at other times, it is a bunch of emails...

Re-Run 007 Why Willpower is Weak (And How Numbers Help You Stay on Track Instead)

11 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 06 How To Become More Productive (While Reducing Overwhelm)

02 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 05 How To Calm Your Nerves Before A Speaking Opportunity

31 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 005 How To Calm Your Nerves Before A Speaking Opportunity

26 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 004 Why Business Philosophy Creates A Uniqueness Factor (Even When Clients Don't Know You At All)

20 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-Run 003 Why Negotiation Consistently Fails In Real-World Scenario

12 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-Run 002 "Why You Need To Get Off The Internet – And Meet Real People Instead"

06 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 01 Why Would They Choose Me? Getting Past A Mental Block

29 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How a slight "problem-change" can dramatically make a massive difference to your business model.

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What if the secret to growing your business isn't changing your product, but changing the problem it solves? This article takes you on a surprising jo...

How to explain concepts elegantly (and keep the attention of your audience)

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all seem to believe that there's nothing left to explain. There are millions of articles, books and stories out there. Yet, there's always a way to...

Why Habits Can Be Temporary and Environment Matters More, Instead.

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Are you really in charge when it comes to changing your habits?.While self-help books promise transformation, true change often stems from a shift in ...

How to Use Grumpy People to Find Your Uniqueness

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You and I avoid grumpy people, if we can. However, when those grumps happen to be your prospects or clients, you better pay close attention. Why? Beca...

Why Learning Is So Tiresome (And How to Identify and Overcome The Barriers)

11 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We believe that we're talented in some areas and not talented in others. However, a lot of this understanding of talent is an illusion. It's based on ...

The Dropout Factor: How to reduce dropout when teaching or learning

04 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the unseen enemies of learning is dropout. Clients get into a course very excited to learn. Then they go off a cliff. They don't show up as oft...

How to Outsmart Procrastination with the 9/10 Principle

27 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We think procrastination means laziness. But often it's just the first step that feels impossible. How do you make your clients move ahead quickly and...

Why "distraction" isn't usually the reason you can't focus

20 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

IF you ask someone why they can't focus, they usually say they're very distracted. But are we really distracted? Or is it congestion, instead? Let's d...

Re-run 07 Sales Page

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 06 U-turns: Why Almost Every Article Needs One To Create Drama

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 05 Why Writing Down What Delights You Can Help With Anxiety and Stress

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 04 Storytelling:Why Storytelling Needs The Thumpty-Thum-Thump-Thump

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 03 How to Win Friends: The Hug, Hear, Help Method

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 02 Pricing Strategy: How to Increase Prices from Left to Right (or Right to Left)

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 01 The Elegant Strategy

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How to Overcome Information Overload (And How To Do It Almost Overnight)

How I Overcame My Three Fears

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When clients look at us, me in particular, they see an almost unblemished trail of success. But you can’t see the fear behind what we’ve been thro...

How to stay calm when the world is falling apart around you

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you ask anybody, you will hear that things have gotten a lot worse. But is that the case? And do we have any control over what's happening around u...

Why We Write—Part 2

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We sometimes believe we write for a client, or for a website. And that belief is true. Except, it’s not true for most of the time. There comes a tim...

Why We Write: Part 1

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Writing seems so laborious at times. We feel like giving up, but there’s a reason why we write. Actually, many reasons.

Why Every Day Learning Matters More Than We Think

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all seem to know how every day matters. However, what causes people to plateau suddently and how does every day activity help in avoiding that mess...

25 years of writing: Simple advice that will improve your articles

17 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I’ve now been writing articles for 25 years. And in those 25 years I’ve learned some things that you may not always find on a writing site, or eve...

The Four Tyrannical Arms of Perfection: A Deeper Insight

10 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all want to be somehow perfect. It doesn’t matter that we know it’s not possible. In this podcast, we have four crazy arms of perfection brough...

The Concept of Take Off-Speed (And How it Enables You to Manage Many Things All At Once)

03 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you feel overwhelmed and seem to get nothing much done, you’re not alone. That’s because many of us go around in circles. We never attain take-...

The Five-Year Lease Concept (And How It Builds Resilience)

26 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Do you sometimes think you have “shiny object syndrome”? Do you seem to hop from one thing to another, only to feel disappointed? What if you coul...

Travel stories through India – another rollercoaster trip.

12 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is back to back travel series. First it was Europe, now it's India. Enjoy the journey!

How to become smarter by utilising the “Database Concept”

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine there are two computers. One computer is a standalone connected to nothing but the electrical supply. The second one is connected to a network...

Stories of travel through India, Singapore and France

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This podcast is called the Three-Month Vacation, and yet we almost never cover vacation stories. Well, that’s about to change. Here are some stories...

How to get clients: An open secret

15 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How do you get clients? This is one question that repeats itself endlessly. You’d think the answer would be common knowledge by now, and it is. The ...

Burnout: Why friends and family are more likely to be early warning systems to avoid overwork

07 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“Hard work” has never been considered a problem. If anything, we’re all told to work hard. How do you know when you’ve crossed the line from h...

How to get free of your phone addiction without software

28 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s clearly impossible to avoid using a phone. Which is why software seems to come to the rescue. However, the way to avoid the phone (at least onc...

How do you manage everything? Part 1

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Podcasts, membership site, cartoons, photography, Whatsapp—the list goes on and on. And it’s puzzling to clients how I (Sean) manage so much. Well...

Re-run 07 The Five "Psychological Stages" of Entrepreneurship—And One That's More Scary Than The Rest

14 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-Run 06 Why You Have to Keep Writing Articles (Even If You Have Written Articles for 20 Years)

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run05 Why does learning seem to take forever? The surprising reasons behind slow learning

31 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 04 Why is Storytelling so Important in Marketing (and how to use it in your marketing)

24 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 03 The Art of Praise (How to Give Genuine Praise)

17 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 02 Three "Slightly Boring" Ways to Create Metaphors for Your Articles

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 01 - How to stay on track with you goals, guest appearance by Keira Menon

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How To Avoid Jet Lag

22 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s that time of the year when many of us travel. If it’s even a short trip, we get jetlagged for days. How do you beat it? Here’s a theory bas...

Why Random, Tiny Projects are the Key to Future Business Growth

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's normal to want to wait for the perfect moment to start a project. However, that's usually a mistake. A tiny, random project can be started right ...

The Power of Analogies (Part 3): How to transform analogies from tired to fresh

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At times, you simply can’t think of an analogy, and you reach for something that’s been used many times before. However, there’s zero fun in usi...

The Power of Analogies (Part 2): How to use everyday life to create stunning analogies

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Power of Analogies (Part 2): How to use everyday life to create stunning analogies Probably the biggest mistake that most of us make is that we tr...

The Power of Analogies (Part 1): Working Backwards

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When we sit down to write an article, or design a presentation, we tend to slip in an analogy. However, most of the analogies that we seem to come up ...

Why we lose motivation (and how a “base level of success” is crucial to keep going)

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We start on a learning journey and then we quickly get lost. Why is this the case? We might have systems in place, reminders that keep going off, but ...

Why sequences are crucial for your business and how to go about implementing it.

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you go for a meal, you follow a sequence. When you are part of a wedding ceremony, there’s also a sequence. Sequences allow us to follow a thre...

Why you need to get off the Internet – and meet real people instead

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Internet has and will always be a great source of getting clients. However, if you notice, it’s also a very crowded space. There’s a place tha...

Rerun 5 Why Willpower Is Weak (And How Numbers Help You Stay on Track Instead)

19 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 4:The Results Paradox: Why We Have To Keep Searching For New Clients

12 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 3 Why A “Lack Of Memory” Causes You To Be Less Talented In Life

05 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 2 How To Create An Intensely Curious First Line For Your Article

28 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 1: How To Get Clients To Go From “No” To “Yes” (And Why The Right Mindset Is Crucial)

21 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The “Unobvious Reasons” WhyAdults Struggle With Language Learning - Part 2

14 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We continue on our two part series of why adults struggle with learning. And this time around, we have an unusual enemy. The enemy is “vocabulary”...

The “Unobvious Reasons” WhyAdults Struggle With Language Learning - Part 1

07 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We all believe that languages should be learned early, and we’re not wrong. However, most adult learning is based on a school system that’s boring...

How to increase prices from left to right (or right to left).

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In most cases, you can increase your prices by as much as 15% by moving from left to right. But what if you wanted to increase your prices by, say, 20...

How to calm your nerves before a speaking opportunity

24 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Giving a presentation is often nerve wracking. You know you need to relax but you are driving yourself up the wall. The usual way to solve the problem...

The "Pain Map of Learning": How Trainers Can Make Learning Fun Again

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When we get into a learning situation, we’re usually excited. Then, almost immediately we feel unsure. We stumble along, not keen to move ahead. Wha...

Why Catching Up Is a Poor Strategy (And Why the “Next Sunrise” Method is More Powerful)

03 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When we fall behind, the core instinct is to catch up. In most cases, that’s a strategy that stresses us out, and achieves very little. It feels lik...

Why “Prompts” Speed Up Learning (And Avoid the Boring Hard Work Syndrome)

13 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We are told time and time again that we need to practice. That we need to work hard. That’s usually a load of rubbish. Learning depends less on you ...

A Memory Test: Are you bad with names or is it a myth?

06 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You've probably heard it before: I am bad at names. I don't remember names so well. But are you truly bad at names? Or is it something that we all say...

The elegant strategy to overcome “information overload” (and how to do it almost overnight).

29 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We all struggle with information. We’re almost always behind, always making notes, trying to catch up. Should we cut back on information completely?...

Re-run 7 Storytelling: Why Fairy Tale Endings Are Unnecessary for Article Writing

15 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 6 Balanced Feedback: Why People Want Endless Amounts of it

08 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 5 How to Systematically Generate a Uniqueness (Even If You've Struggled With It Before)

01 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 4 How random pieces of advice from friends and bosses help me keep my focus

25 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Re-run 3 Why We Stall—And How To Pull Out of the Mess

18 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 2: Why You Should Never Trust A Silent Customer

11 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 1: Why We Struggle With Writing Well (And How Your Brain Is Trying to Drive You Crazy)

04 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why Negotiation Consistently Fails In Real-World Scenarios: 3 Overlooked Stages of Negotiation

27 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you read a book about negotiation, it seems like you should be able to get exactly what you want. However, when you go out into the real world, y...

Why Creating a Series Gets Greater Client Involvement

20 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When we create information, we tend to think of a single book, a single article—and may I say—a single podcast. That system works fine, but there'...

The Five "Psychological Stages" of Entrepreneurship—And One That's More Scary Than The Rest

13 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We don't always realise it, but we go through precise psychological stages when we are becoming entrepreneurs. The biggest problem is that one stage i...

The concept of bandwidth: How to control the "uncontrollable"

05 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On any given day we will have some amount of chaos. And someday the chaos is just looking outside the door, but other days it forces its way through w...

How to Win Friends: The Hug, Hear, Help Method

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We often want to help others. It's a great trait to have in a world that is rather selfish. Yet, it can be a terrible idea when you're communicating ...

Unexpected Impact (And Why You Shouldn't Give Up Communicating With Your Audience)

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes we think that we're just wasting our time writing articles or recording a podcast. Or maybe even the advice we give seems to go nowhere. You...

How to have conversations when you don't necessarily agree with the other person.

09 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Do you feel like you're in the world where everybody is just angry with each other? How do you cope with a situation where you don't agree with the ot...

Three "Slightly Boring" Ways To Create Metaphors For Your Articles

02 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While writing an article, report or book, you're more than likely to need a metaphor. In fact, you may need at least a dozen. The problem with metapho...

The second best way to get out of a rut

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The quickest way to get out of a rut is to have a deadline. The moment you don't have a deadline, you're in trouble. Soon, that blip becomes a blurb, ...

How to give praise (even when it's hard to do so)

10 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We all want to praise others, but sometimes, it seems extremely difficult to do so.  This is why we often resort to something like "great job" or "th...

Rerun 07 The “Coats Of Paint” System To Break Out Of The Curse Of Perfection

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 06 How To Write The First Line Of An Article (And Instantly Get The Reader’s Attention With A Story)

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 05 How To Avoid High Conflict – Even When You Don't Agree With The Idea

20 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Eternal Sales Page Dilemma – How To Choose The Precise Headline To Get Clients Interested On Your Sales Page

13 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 03 Effective Sales Tactics: How To Create Bonuses For Your Products Or Services

06 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun-002 How To Get Unstuck Bit By Bit (And Why Speeding It Up Doesn't Usually Work)

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Rerun 01 Why “A Walk In The Forest” Reinvigorates Our Busy, Stressful Lives

23 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas