Reading Time: 6 minutesIntroduction: Why NotePlan Became My Go-To Productivity Tool Do you find yourself constantly switching between multiple apps to stay organized throughout the day? After a two-week free trial, I’ve fully embraced the NotePlan app. (I wrote about my initial experiences in Why I’m Making the Switch: A Two-Week Journey with NotePlan.) What drew me to …
Reading Time: < 1 minuteStarting today, I’ve posted a new page on my blog highlighting some things I’ve been working on or doing over the past couple of weeks. I see this as a way to update my readers about what I’m up to (for those who care to know). I plan to update it every couple of weeks. …
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhat is Incubation? Incubation happens in your mind when you’re not actively working on a project. It is “unconscious processing” that goes on in your mind automatically. As Kadavy explains in his book Mind Management Not Time Management, “Even when you aren’t consciously thinking about something, your brain is incredibly active – something scientists call …
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe live in a culture of outrage. The news media and social media intentionally feed this culture. It’s an enemy of intentional living because it’s pure manipulation. It’s the opposite of thoughtful and deliberate reasoning and thinking. It’s the direct result of news media and social media using “click-bait” to grab your attention and manipulate …
Reading Time: 7 minutesChris Bailey’s latest book, How to Calm Your Mind: Finding Presence and Productivity in Anxious Times is a mixture of many positives and, unfortunately, some negatives. Bailey has produced some excellent work in the area of productivity. My go-to book to recommend to someone interested in an introduction to productivity is Bailey’s The Productivity Project. I’ve also benefitted from his Hyperfocus: …
Reading Time: 2 minutesMy wife surprised me at Christmas with an original Happy Macintosh icon print by Susan Kare. Susan was the artist who created the icons for the original Mac interface. Her icons literally brought a smiling face to a computer. At a time with only bland PCs with no graphics, DOS interfaces, and in-line commands, her …
Reading Time: 4 minutesI’ve been using Craft for a couple of years now, much more so since last summer. I was initially attracted to Craft because it is a beautiful environment to work in, and enables me to easily create attractive and functional documents. As I’ve worked more with Craft I’ve found myself using it for a number …
Reading Time: 4 minutesSometimes great insights come from the least expected sources. Who would guess that a book about business marketing would help me to better understand and articulate what my role is in writing this blog and doing presentations? Building a Story Brand My friend Joe Moyer (who writes the excellent blog 24Letters) recently told me about …
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA year ago, David Sparks (aka MacSparky) announced that he had shut down his half-time law practice and was going to dedicate his full time to producing MacSparky creative work. When Sparks announced his membership program, MacSparky Labs, in early January of this year, I immediately joined the highest level of membership (there are three …