📸 The last walk of 2021 (Groenekan)

BCN 🛫 AMS 🛬

Something that preoccupies me more and more lately: Digital communication has profound benefits in terms of helping people collaborate, stay in touch, and share things with each other. But social media has played a huge role in spreading misinformation that makes people suspicious of their governments. Social media feeds have become so personalized that you don’t see factual information if it doesn’t align with your profile. Bill Gates https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Year-in-Review-2021

En enero leemos El regalo de Eloy Moreno para KENSO Círculo. ¿Lo leerás con nosotros? 📚

💉💉💉

«La suerte no ha parado aquí» 😔

Superhábitos, el nuevo libro de @BertoP. ¿Será Berto capaz de destronar Hábitos Atómicos de James Clear como mi libro favorito sobre hábitos? 📚

What is your goal for 2022?

Finished reading: The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller 📚 Now preparing my notes to record the review this week. Spoiler: I liked it a lot!

Interruptions are often seen as unwanted disruptions in our work, but they are actually no different from other events. The difference lies mainly in our perception. Just as weeds are simply plants that gardeners prefer not to see, interruptions are simply events that professionals try to avoid. This idea emphasizes that the distinction between desired and undesired events is primarily in our minds. By viewing interruptions as a natural part of our day, we can learn to accept them instead of avoiding them at all costs.

I love this: Emoji to Scale, a collection of emoji presented from smallest (mosquito) to largest (the Sun) with much (camera, blowfish, car, T-rex, International Space Station) in-between. I was surprised by how small our brains are and how big the dodo was. Via Jason Kottke

🙏 Estoy muy contento con las más de 250 inscripciones para el webinar de productividad mañana. ¿Te apuntas también?

Who doesn’t want to be a “time millionaire”? time millionaires measure their worth not in terms of financial capital, but according to the seconds, minutes and hours they claw back from employment for leisure and recreation. Sirin Kale https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/12/time-millionaires-meet-the-people-pursuing-the-pleasure-of-leisure

A helpful reminder: Reminding yourself you can do anything. But you really can’t do everything. Nicholas Bate https://blog.strategicedge.co.uk/2021/12/always-helpful-84.html

Idea revolucionaria: ¿por qué esperar con tus buenos propósitos hasta el Año Nuevo? ¡Empieza hoy!

So frustrating that Microsoft Office on macOS obliges you to store your files on OneDrive in order to autosave your documents, while almost all other app use the native, superior OS autosave feature. Why?!

📸 Team meeting room: inspiration from the past to build the future

Tomorrow will be a big day… 🥳

Whenever I get kicked out of a match beacause Magic: The Gathering Arena crashes on my device, the match should end in a draft instead of defeat.

Unsubscribe! Cyber Monday is a nice event to remind you that you are not using the “unsubscribe” links enough in your email inbox. Patrick Rhone https://www.patrickrhone.net/11054-2/

To me, the ‘week’ is the most human unit of time. Days, months, and years all make sense as units of time—they match up, at least roughly, with the revolutions of Earth, the moon, and the sun. Weeks, however, are much weirder and clunkier. A duration of seven days doesn’t align with any natural cycles or fit cleanly into months or years. Joe Pinsker https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/11/weeks-seven-days-david-henkin/620712/

A little over three years ago I gifted myself the Oura ring. It served me very well, until the battery got damaged a few months ago after which it needed to be charged every two days. Fortunately, Oura has great service and they replaced my ring. A few weeks after I received the replacement ring, Oura announced the third generation of the ring, with more and better sensors. The minimalist in me decided that I have no need for a new ring.

📷 Shooting pictures for the upcoming redesign of my Canasto web site.

En unas semanas podrás escuchar el otro episodio que hemos grabado hoy en que @BCrespoRuiz explica a @rahego cómo su “amigo” puede crear hábitos saludables. 😜

Hoy hemos aprendido a descansar con @jana_fernandez_. 😴 Voy a desconectar un rato para estar al 100% para editar este episodio, que tendrás la semana que viene en tu «podcatcher».

Tip: Create a mail rule to send all email messages mentioning ‘Black Friday’ to the recycle bin.

📸 Misty mornings

I’m shocked to see that even some scientific institutions have start using the Net Promoter Score to measure customer satisfaction.

A great tip from the Hulry newsletter: With more and more news sites moving their content behind paywalls, it’s getting increasingly hard to read good news articles for free. Although supporting a publication with a paid membership is fantastic, there’s a limit to the number of paid subscriptions you can have without breaking your bank. 12ft Ladder will let you read paywalled content on most news sites for free by showing you a cached copy of the article.

Little by little, Roam Research is becoming the one tool to do it all. Last week I realised that I don’t use a task manager anymore, since it is easier to create tasks and manage projects directly from my notes. (And yes, I did just update my Tools I use page)

Kill the newsletter! is fantastic service to convert email newsletters into feeds, so I can do all my reading and triage from my feed reader.

Right now is the perfect time to test out a no meetings policy. Here’s how to do it

Did you set your breakthrough goal today?

I hate it when keyboard shortcuts change, since muscle memory is very hard to create or change. After the Monterrey update, the shortcut for showing spelling and grammar (something I use daily to change the language of the text I type) changed from ⌘; to ⌘¿ in some applications, but not all. 😖

I love this concept: Calm Technology

What a great list of mini standards by Nicholas Bate.

Yesterday my father (84 years old) was writing a text message to his friends. While he composed his message, he complained that the order of the keys on the keyboard made no sense to him. Of course, he never learned to type and never used a computer. “Why don’t they put the letters in alphabetical order?” I guess he is right. The QWERTY layout makes sense when you type with all fingers, but probably is not the most efficient layout on small screens.

Imagine how your life would look without the beautiful moments from your past. This idea, also known as the “George Bailey effect,” can be surprisingly powerful. It involves thinking about how your life would be different without those positive events. By imagining that those special moments never happened, you realize how much they mean to you. This can help you be grateful for what you have experienced and more content with your current life.

The idea is to start with something simple that works and then, if necessary, add more complex elements. This is similar to minimalism, where you try to avoid unnecessary complications. By starting with a simple system, you can better see what works well and what doesn’t, and you can make improvements step by step without disrupting the foundation. In systems thinking, it is often said that successful complex systems usually evolve from simple systems that already worked well.

People with ADHD are often motivated by activities that captivate them, stimulate creativity, ignite competition, or provide a sense of completion. This is because traditional external motivators, such as rewards and punishments, are often less effective for people with ADHD. Their minds tend towards intrinsic motivation, where the activity itself must be attractive and stimulating to hold their attention. Actions that captivate, such as exciting or new tasks, can pique their interest and help them stay focused.

Definition of done by @patrickrhone Dinner is not done once everyone has eaten. Dinner is done once the dishes are washed and the kitchen is cleaned. Patrick Rhone https://www.patrickrhone.net/when-things-are-done/

Another example of a word that has lost its original meaning. We’ve probably lost the battle to save the word masterclass. Much like the word “decimate”, masterclass has acquired a broader and less specific meaning, becoming an adjective rather than a noun, a way to describe the qualities of a performance or teacher. Fernando Gros https://fernandogros.com/what-is-a-masterclass/

Hoy hace 5 años tuvo una videollamada para ver cómo reinventar la transformación en la efectividad personal. Esta conversación fue el embrio de KENSO.

It is important to determine in advance when you want to stop a task, work session or project. This helps you stay focused and efficient. By setting a clear stop moment, you prevent yourself from overworking. If you know in advance when you want to stop, you can plan and prioritize better. This leads to more productivity and less stress. In addition, you prevent yourself from taking on too much work, which often happens when people are too optimistic about what they can do in a certain amount of time.

📷 There is a lot of history here

PRG 🛫 MUC 🛬 BCN

🛫 BCN 🛬 PRG

Every day I check whether macOS Monterey has been released yet. I can’t wait to have focus modes and shortcuts on my iMac.

Nitpicking: Why do I have to scroll to read this text? Couldn’t they just make the text area a little bit larger?

Though the summary did not motivate me to buy this book, I love the quote: One of the most unfortunate realities about being productive is that most of what we do is a total waste of time. Megan Holstein https://fourminutebooks.com/work-less-finish-more-summary/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=work-less-finish-more-summary

Yesterday I realised that in September I passed my tenth anniversary as a freelancer. This prompted me to spent this morning doing a review of those ten years. For the past hours I have been on a trip through memory lane. I have reviewed my financial information, my list of past customers (I should call many of them to keep in touch!) and projects, the material I produced and many, many pages of notes.

Dopamine is not about having, but about wanting. It is released as you work towards a goal, not just when you achieve it. Focusing only on the reward at the end makes the effort feel heavier: time seems to pass more slowly, and resistance feels more painful. The key is consciously linking dopamine release to the effort and discomfort itself. This starts with a mental shift: when something feels hard, remind yourself that you’re on the right track.

Some more thoughts by Cal Newport based on the same research that led me to write this note in my Digital Garden. The allure of productivity is therefore a complex one. We cannot dismiss it as the result of the evil master plan of mustache twirling capitalists. We also cannot embrace it as an unalloyed good. It’s a human drive tangled with the contradictory imperatives of culture. Cal Newport https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2021/09/25/on-the-source-of-our-drive-to-get-things-done/

This is by far my favorite feature in iOS 15: Scheduled Notification Summary. Instead of having a constant stream of interesting things, I now receive my notifications bundled at my most convenient moments.

Research shows that regularly practicing mindfulness meditation can lead to a smaller amygdala. This part of the brain is important because a smaller amygdala often means you have less stress and can concentrate better. When the amygdala is less active, we are less easily distracted by things around us or by our own thoughts. Furthermore, studies indicate that mindfulness meditation not only changes the size of the amygdala but also how it interacts with other parts of the brain.

📷 It’s the season

Research has shown that higher CO2 levels in office environments are associated with decreased performance on cognitive tests, such as the Stroop test, and an increase in reaction times for attention disorders. This suggests that a well-ventilated work environment is not only important for health, but also for maintaining mental sharpness and productivity. A productive work environment requires more than just a well-designed space; air quality plays an equally important role.

This morning while watching a few Twitch streams, I briefly had the idea of starting my own channel. I quickly abandoned the idea when I realised that this would cost me an insane amount of time (since of course I would create the perfect templates) and it would be the most boring stream ever as there is no way an introverted person as I am would be able to fill an hour with banter.

Research by Hershfield and colleagues, based on data from 35,000 people, shows that a lack of free time leads to increased stress and lower subjective well-being. This is not surprising, as too little time for relaxation and personal activities can result in a feeling of exhaustion and dissatisfaction. However, the research also reveals that too much free time is not always better. From about five hours of free time per day, well-being starts to decline again, unless this time is filled with social activities.

The Netherlands offer so much more than Amsterdam and tulips. Most tourists do not take the opportinity to visit the heather field, which especillay in august, are very beautiful as shown by these spectacular photos by Albert Dros. It usually starts mid or early Augusts and lasts until the end of the month, and it turns a lot of areas completely purple. What am I talking about? The heather plants. Compare it to the France’s Lavender fields that start a couple of weeks earlier in July.

Regular thinking walks can have a significant positive impact on your brain, thinking, creativity and memory. Research shows that walking, especially in the morning, not only increases your energy level, but also improves your creativity and problem-solving ability. An experiment conducted by Oppezzo at Stanford University showed that students who walked before taking a creativity test scored 60 percent higher on creativity scores than those who sat. This suggests that physical activity such as walking stimulates the brain and promotes new ideas and solutions.

I really wish I could open search results in the sidebar or the main screen instead of the fleeting floating popover window in @RoamResearch.

In our modern world, we often receive a lot of information that is easy to understand but doesn’t really help us gain deeper knowledge. It’s tempting to view reading as something passive, like watching TV or YouTube videos, especially when we’re tired. But to truly benefit from the information, it’s important to consciously set aside time where we can fully concentrate on reading. This means avoiding distractions and focusing on understanding the text.

I just found myself going through my Twitter feed for some minutes, a clear sign that I should stop working and take a real break.

📷 Shelter

Recuerda: cuando un político está escribiendo en los RRSS o hablando delante una cámara o micrófono, no está haciendo política. Llámalo marketing, demagogia, propagando… lo que sea, pero no es política.

Irreversible decisions, also known as “one-way doors,” require careful and thoughtful consideration. It is important to thoroughly assess the situation and seek advice if necessary before making a decision that cannot be undone. This helps prevent regret and ensures you don’t end up in an undesirable situation. Some decisions are permanent, but there are also many decisions you can reverse, the so-called “two-way doors.” These decisions can be made more quickly and with less concern because the consequences are not final.

Research shows that only 2.5% of people can multitask well without their performance deteriorating. This means that these people work just as well when doing multiple things at once as when they focus on one thing. This is remarkable because most people perform worse when they try to multitask. Most people perform worse when they try to do multiple things at once. This is because the human brain has difficulty dividing its attention well over different tasks.

Meals that are high in carbohydrates can affect our reaction speed. This is because carbohydrates can increase the production of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has a calming effect, which can lead to relaxation and less alertness. This can be useful if you want to relax, but it can be a disadvantage if you need to react quickly, such as when driving or performing difficult tasks.

When constantly switching from one task to another, so-called ‘switching costs’ arise. These costs include the time and mental energy needed to reorient yourself to the new task, let go of the details of the previous task (attention residue), and fully concentrate on the new task. This process can take several minutes, which means that frequent task switching can lead to a significant decrease in productivity. By handling tasks sequentially instead of in parallel, these switching costs can be minimized.

Looking forward to enjoyable things that are coming can make you happy. Research shows that not only pleasant memories but also anticipating something enjoyable gives you a good feeling. By thinking about future activities and visualizing them, you can already feel happy now. It’s nice to prepare for something you are looking forward to. This could be a vacation or a cozy dinner with friends. The anticipation is important because it makes your life more enjoyable.

Research shows that exposure to cold, such as a cold shower, can temporarily reduce your cognitive abilities. After a cold shower, you may have difficulty remembering, react more slowly, and have trouble planning. These effects can last up to an hour. This means that after a cold shower, you may think and make decisions less quickly and effectively. Cold showers have long-term benefits, such as improved circulation and a stronger immune system.

The basic principle of the Getting Things Done (GTD) system, developed by David Allen, is that your memory is not the right tool for keeping track of your to-do list. As long as you have a good system that systematically gets tasks out of your head, your system meets this basic principle. This means that you don’t necessarily have to organize tasks by context, follow the five steps, or do weekly maintenance.

When people can easily understand information, for example through good sound quality, it positively influences their trust in that information. This is because smooth and clear communication creates a sense of reliability. When information is presented without glitches or disturbances, listeners experience less cognitive load, meaning they have to exert less effort to process the message. This ease leads people to more quickly consider the information as true and reliable.

A Zettelkasten is a flexible system in which you write down and connect ideas and thoughts in an organized way. This helps you think better by combining reading and writing. By putting your thoughts on paper, you build a network of knowledge that helps you rediscover and use old insights. The idea of a Zettelkasten as a conversation partner means that you have an equal relationship with your notes. Your Zettelkasten is a reliable partner that helps you organize and develop your thoughts.

Large organizations often try to place employees in fixed roles. These roles are usually intended for the average employee and not for people driven by passion and the desire to excel. As a result, passionate employees may feel limited in their ability to fully utilize their talents. The structures and processes within large organizations are often focused on efficiency and predictability, which can lead to an environment where innovation and personal involvement are less encouraged.

Linking desired behavior to a clear cue is a smart way to change behavior. This idea is similar to making “if-then” plans, where you decide in advance what you will do in a particular situation. By choosing a clear cue that reminds you of the desired behavior, it becomes easier to exhibit this behavior automatically and regularly. This works like a habit: the cue triggers a routine that provides a reward, encouraging you to repeat the behavior.

In case you wonder what’s with all the posts today: I am republishing some of my notes on micro.blog to create my own digital garden. Once I finished posting the backlog, my posting rhythm should get back to normal again.

Use a large screen on which you can see both your work document and your reference material side by side. This way, you need to switch between windows less often. This makes it easier to concentrate and helps you work more efficiently. The idea that a larger screen can increase your productivity comes from being able to see more information at once. This helps you work faster and better, especially if the information is important for what you are doing.

Feedback is a useful tool that helps people and organizations improve and grow. It is important to see feedback as an opportunity to learn, even if it sometimes feels uncomfortable or difficult. By appreciating feedback, you create a safe environment where people dare to express their opinions without fear of negative reactions. This ensures good communication and collaboration, which is important for success. When giving feedback, it is important to do so in a positive and thoughtful manner.

It is important to connect your notes with each other so that you can build a network of ideas and insights. This helps you not only to store information but also to truly understand and integrate it into your own thought patterns. By linking notes together, you create a system where ideas are related rather than isolated. This ensures that you understand things better and generate new ideas because you actively seek connections and patterns between different pieces of information.

When you help someone, it is important to provide them with enough information so they can move forward. This doesn’t mean overwhelming them with details, but sharing the key points and useful knowledge they need to progress. In addition to providing information, it is important to boost the person’s confidence. This can be done by showing how the knowledge they gain can help not only them but also others. When people see that their knowledge and skills can positively impact others, they often feel more motivated and confident.

Most decisions in life are not final. These decisions, also known as Type 2 decisions, can easily be reversed if they do not yield the desired result. This is different from Type 1 decisions, which have consequences that are difficult or impossible to reverse. By acting quickly on decisions that can be reversed, we can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on overthinking and analyzing. The Pareto principle, which states that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts, can help with this.

When you rewrite a text in your own words, you have to think carefully about what is written and what it means. This helps you to understand the main ideas and arguments of the writer and to express them in a way that is clear to you. By doing this, you gain a better understanding of the text because you are not just reading, but also actively engaging with the information.

The 90-minute work cycle is real, but it is not anchored in your sleep and the number is a rule of thumb rather than a stopwatch.

It is important to let your thoughts roam freely sometimes. This is also known as “mind wandering” or “scatter focus.” In our world, everything revolves around productivity; everything must be visible and measurable. But because of this, we often forget how valuable it is to give your mind a break. Your brain has a special network (the Default Network) that becomes active when you do nothing and daydream. This network makes you creative and able to solve problems.

Multitasking means trying to do multiple things at once. This causes your attention to be divided, making it harder to focus on one task. When your attention is divided, you are more likely to make mistakes or miss important details. As a result, you often have to spend more time correcting these mistakes, which makes you less productive. Research shows that most people are not good at multitasking without their work suffering.

Heck, even I would love to go back to school if this were the curriculum: The basic foundation is student-centered, self-directed projects. In service of learning to solve interesting problems and how to lead as well as follow. And to support that, the “courses” are practical tools students can use on their projects. Seth Godin https://seths.blog/2021/09/the-modern-curriculum/

When you read, your thoughts sometimes wander. Many people see this as a problem, but it can actually be very valuable! When your thoughts wander, you are being creative - making connections with other ideas or experiences. Instead of seeing this as a mistake, you can consider it a kind of conversation with the writer. Even though the writer cannot respond directly, you can still add your own ideas and knowledge to what you read.

When you write information in your own words, you really need to understand what it is about. This helps you remember the information better and form your own opinion. It is an active way to engage with new ideas, rather than just reading what others have written. It is important to use your own words because there is a big difference between highlighting text and writing down your own thoughts. Highlighting and making notes usually happens while reading, but taking notes happens while thinking.

This happens because the things you see influence how you feel. Seeing others working hard reminds you to stay focused yourself. This idea is often used in places like libraries and cafes, where people work together and create a productive atmosphere. When you see others working hard, it can make you feel like you need to work harder too. This is because you feel responsible and experience social pressure. Research shows that people try harder when they see others performing a difficult task.

Start with the difficult work and save the easy tasks for later. This helps you manage your time wisely. Difficult tasks often yield the most when you look further ahead. By doing these tasks first, you use your energy for what is truly important. This prevents you from procrastinating. Many people start their day with easy chores, like reading emails. This seems productive, but you don’t really make progress on the important matters.

Research into the use of sit-stand desks shows that these desks do not directly lead to higher productivity at work. Although they are popular for reducing the drawbacks of prolonged sitting, they have little impact on how well people perform their tasks. However, sit-stand desks can help create a healthier work environment by offering the option to alternate between sitting and standing. This can lead to a better work experience and well-being, which may have a positive impact on productivity in the long term.

Talking out loud to yourself helps your brain work better. This has been proven by research. For example, saying the word “chair” instead of just thinking about it can help you concentrate better. Teachers also notice that students who talk quietly to themselves during class often perform better than those who remain silent. You can also talk to an object, like a rubber duck. This helps to organize your thoughts. It’s like writing something down: you have to think about the order of your story.

Physical cues, such as what we wear, are important for how we feel and can help us get into the right work mindset. A simple example is how clothing affects our mental state. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people noticed that working in pyjamas often led to poorer mental health. This shows that wearing regular work clothes can help you feel better. Dressing in the morning is a ritual that helps us transition from ‘waking up’ to ‘working.

Why are so many weekly newsletters published on Mondays? For me, Monday is the worst day to read newsletters, since I also have to work throught the backlog os emails received during the weekend.

Three core principles of effectiveness and productivity. It starts with identifying the right tasks that contribute to your goals and priorities. This means being able to distinguish what is truly important from what merely seems urgent. The concept of “do the right things” comes into play here, where you focus on tasks that have the greatest impact on your long-term goals. Next, it is crucial to execute these tasks in the right way.

Aparentemente, Santander mantiene una lista de Trolls similares a @Yoriento. (Cosas que encuentro en mi archivo de Twitter).

Start each month with a simple plan. Write down what you want to do and what you should avoid. This helps you use your time and energy well. Think about tasks you want to complete and things that cause you stress. By knowing what to avoid, you can take small steps to prevent problems. Remember that this plan is flexible and helps you navigate through the month, even if unexpected things happen.

I have to say, the Twitter data archive is very well made. It comes with a html page to visually navigate most of the contents (tweets, likes, DMs, lists,…). You can filter tweets by date, search in the archive and much more…

I requested an archive of my data from Twitter. Right now I am downloading all 691 MB of it. I am very curious to go through it and may even transfer some old tweets to my blog.

Call me crazy, but today I bought my first NFT: It’s probably wasted (crypto)money, but I just wanted to explore this phenomenon… Furthermore, who doesn’t want to own and old screenshot of the 1997 WinZip.com home page?

How come this channel does not have more subscribers? Almost 20 years ago, Pixar released the first fully computer animated movie and now, one guy can DIY something with greater realism in only 3.5 weeks using off the shelf gear. Amazing!

It has been months since I last heard about Clubhouse. Has the hype passed? Does it still exist?

This quote perfectly descibes my current professional situation: You teach best what you most need to learn. Richard Bach

I often wish other people kept a list of all the tools they’re currently using for daily work, so here’s mine.

To bring some more variation in our evening leisure activities, I bought the Wingspan board game. We haven’t played it yet, but the box, design and materials look exquisite.

After a few years without using it, today I opened the Keybase app again. Digging around in the settings I found that there is a wallet inside the app, with over 1.000 Stellar Lumen (a crypto currency) in it. I vaguely remember having received those for free in the Keybase Spacedrop. The biggest surprise is the current value of those lumen is arround 330€. Now, let’s see how I can spend that free money…

Many things may be important but only one thing can be the most important. Ross Garber

I’m getting annoyed by all the silos for tv and movie content. I’d rather have something similar as the music business, where most of the content is available on all services.

Meetings are the worst form of productivity. The “doing” gets done outside of meetings. Doing happens when you have time to think.Doers schedule thinking. Tim Denning https://medium.com/curious/people-who-brag-about-being-in-back-to-back-meetings-deeply-misunderstand-productivity-ed00701d3f69 As Jason Fried once said, meetings should be like salt on a meal.

Focus and scattterfocus is all that matters. Time and attention aren’t the same thing. They’re barely related. Jason Fried https://world.hey.com/jason/the-difference-between-time-and-attention-bdd955eb

This is hilarious. Salvador Dali participating in a tv game show. Yes!

This is factastic! Somebody made an app to scan the QR code from the EU Covid passport and save it in Apple Wallet or PassAndroid.

Is there a perfect productivity system? No

When making yearly or quarterly plans, I always fail to account for my diminished productivity in august due to the really hot afternoons. The mornings are alright, but after 15:00 I usually feel too lazy to get out of the sofa to do anything useful. But that is ok. I just have to accept the facts, make the most of my mornings and use my afternoons to relax at the pool without feeling guilty.

Since the beginning of the year I have listened almost every week to Andrew Huberman’s podcast (even though his episodes come in with at least a whopping 90 minutes) and learned a ton. Last week’s episode is fantastic, since he basically summarizes all scientifically proven protocols from all episodes about optimizing your body and mind. I have sooo many little habits to adjust! How to Optimize Your Brain-Body Function & Health

I prefer ‘surgical reading’ over ‘speed reading’.

Currently reading: The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller 📚

📷 The end of an era is also a new beginning

Forget about time management. Productivity is not at all about having planners. @myycah https://www.tiktok.com/@myycah/video/6985998876167687430

Finished reading: Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull 📚

Wondering: Does the fact that I did not publish during my vacation mean that I consider blogging as work???

📷 After the storm

📷 Luxury is… finding an empty beach in July 🏖

How we make decisions: We like to think we make complicated decisions based on rational analysis, but most of the time, we actually make an emotional decision and then invent a rational analysis to justify it. Seth Godin https://seths.blog/2021/07/narrative-and-feelings/

Much time management and getting things done is not about time: it’s about scale. Nicholas Bate https://blog.strategicedge.co.uk/2021/07/atoms-are-small.html

Home, sweet home 📷

This caught my attention: Taken as a whole, these results suggest that, sometimes, attention can mislead us about the world. This is not to say that attention always distorts our knowledge of the world, but it does suggest that it might not be the unproblematic guide to knowledge that we originally thought. Henry Taylor https://psyche.co/ideas/sometimes-paying-attention-means-we-see-the-world-less-clearly

Something I observed on my vacation: The Netherlands are quickly becoming a cashless society. Many places don’t ask how you want to pay and immediately pass you the credit card terminal.

Such a great article by Joe Zadeh: The Tyranny Of Time This made me wonder: under which circumstances should I follow ‘clock time’ and when should I listen to nature’s rhythm?

Investing advice: A recommended daily habit: Replace one hour of screen time with one hour of reading in your job’s subject area. Michael Wade http://www.execupundit.com/2021/06/one-hour-day.html

📷 Donostia Now that was a wonderful weekend full of music, art, spectacular landscapes, friendship and great food.

Slow down! An easy trick to slow down is to ask: “Why the rush?” and to take a step back. Is speed really adding to the quality of the output? Anne-Laure Le Cunff https://nesslabs.com/the-benefits-of-slowing-down

Thanks @ttscoff for showing me Dato. Dato is a simple menu bar calendar utility to show me a calendar and my upcoming appointments.

What do you do when all of your inboxes are empty or ignored? That’s your purpose in life. Daniel Jalkut https://danielpunkass.micro.blog/2021/06/20/if-youre-like.html What activities act as a magnet for your attention? Which of today’s actions will you dream about? What makes you truely happy? You can find breadcrumbs to your purpose in many corners of life.

This is how I know what color car is parked in front of the house

Effectiveness: The flip-side of the “To-Do” list should always be the “Not To-Do” list.  Michael Wade http://www.execupundit.com/2021/06/the-flip-side-of-to-do-list.html

Damn you, CGP Grey. Now I’m hooked on Magic the Gatheting.

Currently reading: Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull 📚

Am I the only one using the iron mostly in lateral movements and hardly ever with the point part facing forward?

This is mesmerizing: The Shortcut Vía Jason Kottke

It’s done: I ordered a brand new, maxed out purple M1 iMac. By far the biggest tech purchase in my life.

All my Apple devices are relatively old. My philosophy is to use them as long as I reasonably can. This also means that usually after the WWDC I only have one burning question: will I be able to update my devices? Last year, Apple did not include my late 2013 iMac in the list, so it still runs Catalina (not an issue so far). This year there will be no casualties.

If you spend more time chatting with people you don’t know than talking with the persons around you, you’ve got a problem.

Finished reading: Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style by Carson Tate 📚 When reading this book I felt like I was ready two books simultaneously: a mediocre book about personal productivity and a great book about personalizing your own productivity system based on your psychology.

I was hoping Apple would announce a bigger iMac at the WWDC. They did not. Now I have to decide which color of the 24” iMac I prefer.

There is nothing more productive than finishing a 90 minute personal effectiveness workshop in 60 minutes. Under promise and over deliver…

I feel like I should write more on my blog. But whenever I sit down to write, I don’t know what to write about. And whenever I have interesting stuff going on in my life, I am to busy doing the stuff, so I end up not writing about it.

I don’t know when they added the ‘smart suggestions’ feature to Setapp, but it should be disabled by default. I don’t expect an app store to be monitoring how I use my computer in order to promote new applications. This is how you switch them off.

Yesterday I finally did something I should done several years ago: spring cleaning my personal effectiveness blog El Canasto. I removed several ancient landing pages. I updated the privacy policy. I created a brand new About page. I set up a (still unpublished) page for an upcoming podcast. I added the obligatory GDPR disclaimer to several forms. I removed a dysfunctional piece of JavaScript from the header code. Now, let’s get back to creating and publishing content.

The benefits of choosing a platform over disconnected devices I love all these features and use them every day.

This is the current widget-only Home Screen of my iPhone 7: Widget stack: Weather Calendar Siri suggestions Photos Maps Followed by two more Siri suggestions widgets. I basically let the iPhone decide which apps to show me at any moment and have to admit that it is amazing. 99% of the time the app I want to use is already on the home screen. In the dock I have three apps I use for capturing information (YNAB for expenses, Roam Research quick capture for ideas and SkedPal 3 for tasks) as well as a folder with some handy shortcuts).

I just created an account at an online store and immediately received a confirmation email including my username and password in plain text! Right away I lowered my expectations on privacy, support and quality.

Today I received my RØDE VXLR+, a small device to connect my lavelier mic to my audio interface. The VXLR+ converts the 48V phantom power provided by the audio interface into 3–5V needed by my lavelier mic. Until now I always used my lavelier mic with my phone, but for a while I’ve wanted to connect it to my computer, so I have more freedom of movement when doing my online workshops.

Trying to get my head around notetaking philosophies and Zettelkasten Now

WWDC is getting closer. Since I’m not a developer, the only question interesting me right now is whether they will announce a new pro-level iMac. I really need a replacement for my current machine (2013 iMac), since I run into too many issues processing the audio and video sources for my remote workshops. I would have bought the M1 iMac right away if WWDC wouldn’t be so close. Anyway, I’ll wait until June 7 to make my purchase decision.

I really wish that Roam Research will one day support ‘regular’ markdown syntax. It is very hard to modify 17 years of muscle memory.

How is it possible that in the EU we still have to pay an extra for copyright compensation whenever we buy a storage medium, a mobile phone or a computer? Haven’t the legislators noticed that the world has moved on from free downloads and now pays for streaming services like Netflix and Spotify?

This week I reviewed my new Audient iD14 audio interface and man, I surely do love this device. Such a clean sound, such power and so many possibilities …

¿Por qué los sindicalistas siempre gritan en sus discursos?

Honest feedback from a good friend might still hurts, but is more likely to result in an actual change.

Whenever I want to learn something, I am highly motivated and want to start right away. If you make me wait until your next group starts, I have probably already found an alternative way to learn. And the few times I did enroll in a cohort-based training I had huge difficulties following the pace of the course. They either go too fast or too slow for me, which is really frustrating.

I’m loving this quote: Develop what’s inside first, because what’s inside is reflected outside. Rebecca Toh https://rebeccatoh.co/inside-2/

📸 First lunch outside at the patio for this year

When I enrolled in @beauhaan’s Roam Book Club, I expected to learn about Roam Research while discussing the contents of the “How to take smart notes” book. Little did I know that is is actually a course on clearer thinking. 🤔

What we believe in. Efficiency is getting stuff done. Effectiveness is getting the right stuff done. Technology aids us with the first. Your brain still has to facilitate the second. Nicholas Bate https://blog.strategicedge.co.uk/2021/04/just-one-thing-97-of-101.html

Currently reading: Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style by Carson Tate 📚

Note for remote workers: working from home is not the same as living at work. Fix your boundaries!

An interesting metric to evaluate email campaigns: Risk We measure email risk, in its most basic iteration, by dividing the number of unsubscribes by the number of clicks for each individual email campaign. Total Number of Opt-Outs / Unique Clicks = Risk This is the most basic and broadly applicable version of this metric but, in a few moments, we’ll discuss ways you can tailor it to fit your specific program. Aztek https://www.aztekweb.com/blog/post/looking-beyond-unsubscribes/

This week I’m ditching ActiveCampaign and moving my newsletter to Squarespace. I want to simplify my setup, eliminate most of the marketing automations, use a design that resembles my website, pay a third of the price and put a bigger focus on my writing.

Finished reading: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown 📚

Some interesting insights into the consequences of the jump to “remote work” in many organizations: With over 40 percent of the global workforce considering leaving their employer this year, a thoughtful approach to hybrid work will be critical for attracting and retaining diverse talent. To help organizations through the transition, the 2021 Work Trend Index outlines findings from a study of more than 30,000 people in 31 countries and an analysis of trillions of productivity and labor signals across Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn.

This is how you buy things. Did I comparison shop? Nope. Ask around? Nada. There’s no buyer’s remorse when you just don’t want to know. Jason Fried https://world.hey.com/jason/i-bought-a-sauna-30088f7d

I always find it extremely difficult to rate books, movies and tv series. First, whenever something is actually bad, I simply don’t finish it and also cannot be bothered to rate it. And when omething is good I have a hard time deciding wherer it was good or really good. It’s so subjective… Most works of art have some great parts and some good aspects. What exactly is the difference between ★★★ and ★★★★?

The best way to deal with information overload is to embrace it. Think of Information as Food. Imagine you’re at a 5 Star buffet, with loads of options. It’s stressful if you think you have to consume it all. But it’s liberating if you know what you want to eat so that you can find the right balance of taste and nutrients to create your meal. Mohammed Ali Vakil https://www.calmachiever.com/overcome-information-overload/

My main problem with web apps is that they live in the browser. My monkey mind keeps on closing the browser application when I finish reading, closing all those browser apps as well…

Know your keyboard shortcuts on Windows.

What we’re doing is not the same as working remotely. We’re not working remotely. We’re surviving a global pandemic while trying to get some work done. Jill Duffy https://productivityreport.org/2021/04/12/10-reasons-remote-work-during-a-pandemic-is-not-remote-work/

This is outrageous! A database containing the phone numbers of more than half a billion Facebook users is being freely traded online, and Facebook is trying to pin the blame on everyone but themselves. https://www.vice.com/en/article/88awzp/facebook-says-its-your-fault-that-hackers-got-half-a-billion-user-phone-numbers

Usually the YouTube algorithm doesn’t help me very well in finding new and interesting videos, but yesterday I discovered something that excites me: Kyūdō. While I’m looking up information on possibilities to practice Kyūdō in Spain, I’ll leave you with the two videos I saw yesterday:

After many years in the productivity space, I still have to remind myself sometimes that the tool won’t solve my issues. There’s no getting out of this fact: these apps are all going to take more constant input from you than you’d wish for. They don’t take away the need for some amount of self-discipline to use them effectively. Brent Simmons https://inessential.com/2021/04/06/the_perfect_to_do_system_is_not_just_around_the_corner

I don’t use a case on my mobile phone. My experience is that if you put a cheap piece of silicone around your phone, you’ll treat your whole phone as a cheap piece of silicone. I treat my phone as an expensive piece of electronics.

Currently reading: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown 📚

📷 Puiggròs 🚶‍♂️

So true: These huge threaded tweets drive me insane. It sounds really interesting but hard to read, impossible to follow and can disappear at any point. Write a bloody blog post! Greg Morris https://www.gr36.com/2021/03/31/these-huge-threaded.html The real issue is that the author is more interested in getting likes and retweets than in being read and understood.

Finished reading: The Second Mountain by David Brooks 📚

Llevo muchos años explicando que, antes de comunicarte, siempre debes parar un momento para seleccionar el mejor canal de comunicación para este mensaje. Y Zoom, correo electrónico o WhatsApp rara vez son el canal óptimo. A medida que este tipo de elementos culturales se van normalizando, sigue persistiendo una tendencia al exceso de uso de la videoconferencia para cuestiones que, seguramente, podrían solucionarse de manera mucho más sencilla y directa con una simple llamada de teléfono.

I just love the smell of a freshly broken branch of the tomato plant.

A small jewel from James Clear’s newsletter: When people hesitate to give honest feedback on an idea, draft, or performance, I ask for a 0-10 score. No one ever says 10. Then I ask how I can get closer to a 10. It motivates them to start coaching me—and motivates me to be coachable. I want to learn how to close the gap. Adam Grant https://twitter.com/AdamMGrant/status/1369732419021135879

I have been using Reeder for my feed reading since early 2011 (that’s over a decade!), so of course I immediately updated to version 5 last October. Only now, five months later, have I started looking at the new features in this version and I really love them! 💕 I disconnected the app from Inoreader and Instapaper (my feed server and read later service) and started using the built-in iCloud Feeds and iCloud Read Later services.

📷 Pleasure 🍓🍫

After seeing this video by Shu Omi I wanted to try out the Sorted³ app for scheduling my tasks. I see a bright future for hyperscheduling tools, since they are the easiest way to be aware of the volume of current commitments. Timeblocking can quickly turn into a rescheduling Tetris, but automated tools such as Sorted and SkedPal eliminate this issue. That said, I really liked the sorted interface. They have some innovative ways to select and modify multiple items.

At mid morning I usually take a coffee and a sandwich at my desk. This week I started a new habit. I now do this standing in the sun on my balcony, which is much nicer!

Yesterday I have been researching easy ways to record the TV series and movies I watch. So far, the best options I have found are Trakt and Simkl, with the latter being my preference. Now I only have to find a way to link that data with Micro.blog and/or Day One.

This integration of Zotero and Roam Research is an absolute game changer for me. Getting this kind of functionality is one of the benefits of using the same tools people much smarter then me use.

I finally finished cleaning up my Photos page by editing out the decorative images in old posts (you know, these kind of things we used to do back in the day…). Now the page only shows photos I actually took myself.

Whenever I write on my iPad, there are two problems which drive me nuts. Today I will explain one of these issues. Disclaimer: I am well aware that this is a very first-world problem, but I expect Apple to care about the little details. The issue arrises when I am writing a text and need to insert a special character, such as the ‘+’ sign. On my iPhone I can find this symbol in a logical, easy to understand way.

I would love to be the kind of person who likes fixing things at home, but usually when I try I get frustrated. The end result hardly ever comes even near the desired result, because I lack the craft, the tools and the dedication. 😩

Los partidos se juegan hasta el final, pero desafortunadamente este partido ha terminado. Descanse en paz, @CMatallanas15.

📷 Endless fields of delight 🍑🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Some years ago I reconfigured Siri on all my devces to use a male voice, since I don’t feel comfortable giving orders to a woman.

Now that we don’t travel anymore, we´ll need a better name for the ‘airplane mode’ on our phones.

📷 Day 31: Defiance The day is almost over and I still haven’t taken my photo for to day. The last word of this challenge is… challenging. I came up black. #mbfeb

📷 Day 30: Privacy Ssssstttt… I’m working #mbfeb

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. — J. R. R. Tolkien

📷 Day 29: Light Sometimes, light creates magic… #mbfeb

📷 Day 28: Up A view from our secret hideout. 🏠 #mbfeb

📷 Day 27: Pompasetting I’m not someone who likes to show off, nor do I value most material possessions. For today’s theme, the best I could think off was to show our nimble home. 🏠 #mbfeb

Some useful Dutch words: “Mierenneuken” Literally translated as: “ant fucking.” This should be a common term in productivity. Nitpicking things that don’t matter, especially within projects that should not exist, is a daily frustration. CJ Chilvers https://www.cjchilvers.com/blog/2-dutch-sayings-youll-use-every-day

Is there something missing on your to do list? Looking back, there was one chore that I should have put on every list and saved time for every day. That missing item was “Thinking."  Michael Wade http://www.execupundit.com/2021/02/a-missing-item-on-to-do-lists.html

📷 Day 26: Favourite Three of my favourite analog tools: Leuchtturm1917 dotted medium notebook, Faber-Castell Ambition fountain pen and the Slo Jo 19 watch. #mbfeb

📷 Day 25: Code As a coincidence, today was the first day in a very long time that I actually had to change some HTML and CSS of a new landing page. #mbfeb

Most service providers ask their customers for testimonials. Its good practice. Some businesses offer money (or services or discounts) in exchange for those testimonials. That’s a little over the ethical edge for my taste. But lately I have encountered service providers paying people for negative testimonials for their competitor”s services. How low can you go?…

Some intresting thoughts on intelligence: The brain is the organ that named itself and created all that we are discussing but it is a odd thing. It takes over 20 years of education before it is even remotely useful to an employer or society. To attribute ‘intelligence’ to he organ is to forge that, compared to machines, it can’t pay attention for long, forgets most of what you teach it, is sexist, racist, full of cognitive biases, sleeps 8 hours a day, can’t network, can’t upload, can’t download and, here’s the fatal objection -  it dies.

📷 Day 24: Baby As a team of two, we have to distribute the roles in the family. We don’t have a dedicated baby, so I picked up that role. I’m not sure if I’m playful enough, though… #mbfeb

Currently reading: The Second Mountain by David Brooks 📚

Hey is a fantastic email service that is about to get a whole lot better as you can send email to the world which will be published on your personal Hey blog. When I write a certain kind of email — aka a blog post — why do I have to address it to someone? Why can’t I just address my thoughts to the world? Direct to the web for anyone and everyone?

Finished reading: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 📚

📷 Day 23: Banana You can recognize a healthy home by the fruit bowl in the kitchen. #mbfeb

90% of running a business is making a bunch of tiny improvements that nobody notices but end up being transformative over time. David Perell https://perell.com/monday-musings/

📷 Day 22: Spell These two ‘fat guys’ have been within arms reach for over 19 years now. I don’t use them as much as before, but they still come in ahndy once in a while. #mbfeb

📷 Day 21: Colors The first fruit trees start showing their colors. Within a few weeks I expect we’ll see full sakura. #mbfeb

En diciembre he estado limpiando mi despacho y he decidido regalar algunos de mis libros a la comunidad KENSO. Este mes regalo el libro «How to be a productivity ninja» de Graham Allcott. Si quieres participar en el sorteo, simplemente deja un comentario.

📷 Day 20: Weather The problem with nice weather is that a bright blue sky makes for very boring photos. So, I put something interesting in front of the weather. #mbfeb

📷 Day 19: Alive Today’s theme is the perfect excuse to try out the ‘jump snap’ function of my fancy camera. #mbfeb

📷 Day 18: At home By far, my favorite place on earth. 🏠 #mbfeb

Did you play today?

📷 Day 17: Still Usually after a period of working in intense concentration (coaching calls, script writing, course design,…) I take a break to look at the clouds in silence. ⛅️ #mbfeb

I just deleted Clubhouse from my phone. I have tried it for two weeks and have come to the conclusion that the platform in its current state does not provide any value to me. The first week I tried using it as intended. I betrayed the privacy of my contacts by uploading their information to the Clubhouse server and followed all of those who were already on the platform. The first few days I listened in on a few rooms to understand how the platform works.

📷 Day 16: Erudite More and more of my knowledge is stored in my second brain. #mbfeb

I wish the makers of OneClock would cooperate with Philips to add those sounds to my Wake Up Light.

I would have loved it to be in the Netherlands last weekend. The Netherlands looks like an old master’s painting today 🖼⛸ pic.twitter.com/n6MWI8iAwX — Dirk Janssen🇳🇱🇺🇸 (@NLinSF) February 13, 2021

I’m really getting behind on my reading material, with now over 100 articles in my Instapaper queue. and one book to finish this week It’s time to prune my queue and block off some time in my agenda for reading and studying.

📷 Day 15: Reflection Mirror and mirrorless. #mbfeb

📷 Day 14: Compassion The one person in the world who is always there for me. #mbfeb

📷 Day 13: Make Everything is in place to start making a new batch of Magdalenas. #mbfeb

📷 Day 12: Sporg A photo of an artwork by Ama10.art made out of a photo of mold on a wall. #mbfeb

📷 Day 11: Machine Just as I was getting ready to record some new vdeos for our YouTube channel and our online courses, these guys showed up to prune the trees right outside my window. 🥺 #mbfeb

📷 Day 10: Energy In my opinion, any productive desk setup needs one of these for those moments when you’re in need of some quick energy. #mbfeb

It is nice to see that 30 Boxes is back. I reviewed the app waaaay back in 2007, but it has come a long way since then. It’s a lovely free calendar / to do app which does not require an account. I really dig the Intention feature!

It had been over two months since I last updated my Now page.

📷 Day 9: Muddy Now that we can’t go to the mountains because of the lock-down, my life is a lot cleaner. There are not many occasions to get my hand dirty anymore. The most muddy situation in my life nowadays occurs when I’m cleaning the coffee maker. #mbfeb

📷 Day 8: Hope I thought that the cold winter killed our little mint plant, but when I wanted to recycle the pot I found some hope. 🌱 #mbfeb

Everything is a remix I’m so confused right now. 😳😬🤯 pic.twitter.com/gnAExj9bin — Fred Schultz (@fred035schultz) February 6, 2021

📷 Day 7 | Craving My favourite snack of the past weeks unfortunately is almost finished. #mbfeb

The personal website seems to making a comeback. https://www.cjchilvers.com/blog/its-time-to-get-personal

📷 Day 6 | Sport I feel very guilty getting this material out of the closet for taking a picture instead of using it for exercise. I swear, next week I will return to my healthy life… #mbfeb

📷 Day 5 | Pets May I present you: Bosch 🐠 #mbfeb

One of the best tips to have a better Work From Home experience: have a fake commute.

The past days I have been trying out Refind to receive my own daily personlized newsletter with 10 interesting articles. So far I like the experience and have already found some very interesting material.

📷 Day 4 | Layers Preparing the artwork for this week’s podcast episode in Pixelmator Pro. #mbfeb

Why does the Mac App Store ignore my language preferences?

Currently reading: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 📚

📷 Day 3| Comfort When working from home you need some essential items: a good chair, good light and comfortable slippers. These arrived just yesterday. <img src=“uploads/2021/ee0844888d.jpg” width=“600” height=“450” alt=“slippers” /> #mbfeb

This is the way: Publish. Consistently. With patience. Own your assets. Don’t let a middleman be your landlord. Yell at Google for blocking your emails and hope it’ll work eventually. Continually push for RSS and an open web. With patience. Seths Godin https://seths.blog/2021/02/chasing-the-cool-kids/

📷 Day 2 | Morning beverage Be water my friend! 🚰 Though I usually start the day with a lemon tea, the rest of the mornings I have this water bottle on my desk. #mbfeb

📷 Day 1 | Close up Podcasting 🎤 #mbfeb

Last week I started watching The Blacklist on Amazon Prime. Yesterday, suddenly, Amazon states that “This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location”. This unreliability is a major problem with streaming services.

This is the basis for a functioning society: To reduce conflict in our lives, we need to fully accept the truth that other people are not meant to think the same way as we do, since we all have fundamentally different thinking systems, informed by our past experiences, upbringing, education, the things we read, etc. Rebecca Toh https://rebeccatoh.co/ten-recent-thoughts-5/

The past two days I have been hanging around in Clubhouse. So far I like it, though I would like to see a broader spectrum of conversation themes. So far, since the platform is full with online marketers, the main topics are “What is Clubhouse?” and “How can I use this platform for marketing my business?”. I think audio is the perfect medium for establishing conversations, since it’s more personal and faster to produce than written text and it’s easier to get professional quelity than video.

This is such an amazing idea by @patrickrhone: pipe your Instagram and Twitter posts to the Day One app, so you can print them out as a book.

The most intelligent photo ever taken

I’m simultaneously exporting a video in Final Cut Pro and bouncing a podcast episode in Logic Pro on a seven year old. I can’t wait until  releases the next generation iMac.

What happened to my pupils?

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, many fashion retailers are stuck with huge amounts of stock they will never be able to sell, since fashion changes each season. What used to be a money-making machine is now a problem. I think this is a great opportunity to leave the old unsustainable model behind us and invest in quality, evergreen and unique styles.

Michael Wade proposes adding a fifth quadrant to the Eisenhower priority matrix and he calls it Important and Ugh. You know the characteristics of Important and Ugh: not urgent but so distasteful that an extra effort will be required to trick/nudge/cajole you into tackling it. Michael Wade http://www.execupundit.com/2021/01/tackling-important-and-ugh.html

Most messages in the user forums of any productivity tool are from people who overcomplicate their workflows.

Somehow, Spotlight stopped working on my iMac. Neither the keyboard shortcut or the icon in the menu bar did anything. Time for a reboot…

WhatsApp’s canary died 😔 Uh-oh. WhatsApp’s canary just died; they removed the statement that they never have access to your private keys. If you were using it because of its privacy, it’s time to find something else. Shadow D. Wolf https://twitter.com/SDWolf/status/1347595158301261825

Well said: Discussions of ‘time management’ and ‘productivity’ often hide the real issue. Soul management. Nicholas Bate https://blog.strategicedge.co.uk/2021/01/just-onething-40-of-101.html

Google’s iOS apps haven’t been updated in weeks. Could Apple’s privacy labels be the reason? Probably…

As usual, effectiveness is a question of habits. Tools come in second place. So more than the bells and whistles, ask yourself which app feels useful to you. Which one helps you get to what you want? Which one do you feel inspired to write in? Which one feels enjoyable to write in? Which one feels like the initial seeds of a system can be enjoyable to maintain? Kourosh Dini https://www.

So true: artwork by Liz Fosslien

Nicholas Base reminds us to be a good gardener: Although he/she wouldn’t be so bold as to proclaim it, the good gardener has stumbled upon a brilliant approach for business, parenting and life. Nicholas Bate https://blog.strategicedge.co.uk/2021/01/the-good-gardener-2021.html/