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: 3 minutes1. What is the Pomodoro Technique? I first read about the Pomodoro Technique a few years ago in productivity books and articles. It’s a method developed in the 1980s by a university student, Francesco Cirillo, to help him focus on his work and also take regular breaks. Here is a step-by-step description of how the …
Reading Time: 4 minutesI’ve known about Keyboard Maestro (KM) for years, but I always thought it was too complicated and advanced to fit my needs. I was wrong. My Misconceptions About Keyboard Maestro Recently, in MacSparky Labs, David Sparks did a program on “Mac Launcher Deep Dive.” In this video, Sparks showed how he uses KM to automate …
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: 6 minutesHookmark has revolutionized my use of linking between files in my workflows. I’ve been aware of the value of linking files with other files in different apps for some time. I’ve done some linking between apps that internally support linking, such as linking a file in Craft to a task in Things. However, the problem …
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 …
Reading Time: 5 minutesSurgery on my right shoulder (I’m right-handed) in late December motivated me to try using dictation more on my iPad and Mac. I have dabbled in using dictation but haven’t used it very consistently. During the past week and a half I’ve extensively used dictation to: • Write emails and messages. • Write notes on …
Reading Time: 5 minutesHow do you start a new project? If you don’t have a template, you’ll likely leave out some important steps. In Tiago Forte’s excellent book Building A Second Brain, he discusses in chapter 9 the importance of having a checklist to launch new projects. “Before they taxi onto the runway and take off, airline pilots …
Reading Time: 5 minutesAccording to writer Todd Henry in Daily Creative, steady, deliberate progress is the key to creative success. It takes three things to get things done and bring about creative success: 1. Commit to steady, deliberate progress; 2. Do it every day, and; 3. Work even when you don’t feel like it. The key to creative …
Reading Time: 6 minutesDuring the first week in December, my wife and I when to Disneyland to celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary (we’re not really that old — we married when we were 5 😉). The event and discussions with friends about it have prompted some thoughts I’d like to share. Don’t panic, it’s not all mushy stuff. …