When you hear the same thing from three very different people, there’s usually something to it. Especially when those people are a friend, an elderly lady, and the Pope. This morning, my friend and I talked about the value of spending time together in person. We agreed that connecting face-to-face feels much more rewarding than endless digital messaging. Later, biking home from a fitness class, I saw an elderly lady lying on the road by a tram stop. She’d fallen, so I helped her up, moved her...
15 days ago • 1 min read
Here’s an app you should check out if you haven’t already. It’s a Mac App of the Year… It’s an Apple Design Award Winner… And it’s even available for Windows PCs! It’s my favorite calendar app, Fantastical. (No, that’s not an affiliate link—I’m not affiliated with Flexibits, the company that makes Fantastical, in any way. I’m simply a fan.) Fantastical has been my calendar app of choice for years. It has a great interface, it lets you connect almost any calendar (Google Calendar, iCloud...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Imagine you’re stepping into a diner. You know, the kind of eating establishment with a huge menu that unfolds into an A3-sized paper. Or, if it’s the kind of place where you have to scan a QR code to see the menu, you can scroll down the menu for absolutely ever. The diner’s menu lists a bunch of dishes: burgers, pancakes, even Indian food. Now, would you order all the items off the menu? No. You pick one. Or a couple. Maybe next time you come back—assuming the food was tasty—you’ll pick...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Where do you go for answers to very specific questions? Questions like… “Will brewing my specialty coffee with mineral water rather than with tap water bring out the delicate flavors better?” (I asked this question today.) Or: “How do the British people feel about Brexit these days? What’s the latest polling?” (I asked that question yesterday.) Or: “What’s a more effective exercise for strengthening my hamstrings—lying leg curls or standing leg curls? What do my favorite fitness teachers like...
2 months ago • 2 min read
How well can you remember things? And are you worse at remembering than you used to be? In my latest YouTube video, I show how to use Apple Notes to remember anything. More than 130,000 people have watched the video so far, so clearly it’s resonating with people. One comment on the video stuck out: Good video.But soon we’ll lose our ability to think and remember.Please try to remember something manually.— Mohamed Mohamed has a point. I certainly feel more distracted now than I did in, say,...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Let’s talk about relationships. No, not about those kinds of relationships. Although over the years, in a variety of romantic relationships, I’ve learned a lot about what not to do… And a few things here and there that are probably good to do! But I digress. Maybe I’ll share my romantic relationship experience some other day. I want to talk about a very important relationship that all of us have. It could be a happy relationship, but for many people it’s a troubled one. It’s a relationship...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Recently I had the opportunity to set up a productivity system for a very wealthy person. For a billionaire, in fact. Now, you might think billionaires have different problems than you and me. In some sense, that’s true: I don’t have to worry about my private jet being unavailable today due to maintenance. Presumably you don’t, either. But other billionaire problems are very relatable: Getting too much email and forgetting what you still need to respond to. Writing down to-dos in three...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The other day, my home ventilation unit stopped working. I recently moved into an apartment in Amsterdam that was built only two years ago, so it’s got all the fancy tech for energy-efficient living and for ultimate comfort. But sometimes that tech breaks. So this big unit in my storage room suddenly just borked. Here, I’ll show you a picture of the thing: While it’s huge and I could use more storage space, I love this unit because it constantly refreshes the air in the apartment. It uses the...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Most people’s to-do lists are just dumping grounds. They write things like: Learn Spanish Redesign website Train for a marathon Email dentist All in the same place. All with equal urgency. Which means every time they open their list, they’re hit with shame and indecision. But you? You have a Someday bucket. A separate list for ideas that aren’t for today—but still matter. You don’t delete them. You don’t obsess over them. You put them somewhere safe—and move on. Right?
3 months ago • 1 min read