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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 29, 2026 • 20min
Free or Paid? How to Know in Advance if Someone Will Pay — Part 1
It seems almost impossible to price a product—and even harder to decide when it comes to information products. How do you decide if you should give away the information free or charge for it? Let's explore the first two parts in Part 1 and Part 2.
Mar 21, 2026 • 10min
Why going backwards is often a good sign of progress
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 another, continuing steadily until the journey is complete. But in reality, most journeys involve setbacks. At times, after making progress, it can feel as though we're actually moving backwards. Strange as it sounds, going backwards is a good thing. Let's find out why.
9 snips
Mar 13, 2026 • 22min
How to Make Additional Time Out of Thin Air.
A hunt for hidden minutes in everyday life. How stacking activities like listening while walking can capture wasted time. Spotting and closing tiny daily time leaks such as news and social scrolling. Swapping slow typing for dictation and AI tools to massively speed up work. Investing small setup time now to free hours later, and using reclaimed time for rest.
8 snips
Mar 6, 2026 • 16min
Why Self-Study Works for Some People and Fails Miserably for Others
They debate why some learners thrive with solo study while others stall. Real-life fixes show how a short coaching tweak can solve big problems. A four-step expedition-style plan frames how to set goals, estimate effort, provision resources, and plot a route. Practical stories about bad teaching, language practice scale, and mixing coaching with self-study keep the ideas vivid and actionable.
Feb 27, 2026 • 5min
Why all the productivity in the world may not matter after all
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 day of activity. Isn't that good enough reason to slow down or just do nothing at all for some of the days? Let's find out why productivity needs a break.
Feb 20, 2026 • 16min
Why Feedback Barely Helps Progress (And Why "Instant Feedback" is Crucial, Instead).
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 you need to get feedback. The problem is that feedback almost never has the necessary impact. The reason why it fails to help us move forward is because of the timing. What we need is not feedback but instant feedback. But why is instant feedback far superior than just feedback alone? Let's find out.
Feb 7, 2026 • 13min
Why Habits Fail Consistently (And Why You Need a Habit System Instead)
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. That's because of why a habit fails. It fails because of a lack of a system. But what's in that system? It's the drive to remove inefficiencies. All habits fail if they're inefficient. Find out why you need a habit system, instead.
Jan 30, 2026 • 13min
Why Habit-Change Is Almost Always Temporary (And How to Create Lasting Habits)
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's certainly not willpower. Bah, grit! Habit change is based instead on your environment. It's almost always based on the company you keep. Let's find out why your environment is the most important habit changing strategy of all.
8 snips
Jan 20, 2026 • 15min
How to speed up answering e-mail—and everyday messages as well
A fast-paced chat about cutting typing time by dictating messages instead. They highlight a tool that transcribes spoken words with near-perfect punctuation and list formatting. Reliability in noisy settings and multilingual switching get attention. The conversation promises big time savings for emails, comments, and course feedback without deep technical detail.
Jan 11, 2026 • 13min
