When major news happens, what does that do to you? Do you shrug it off and go about your day? Or does it consume your attention for an entire week? I’m not leading you towards a desired answer. Some news, you should shrug off. Other news, you probably should reflect on for a while, assuming you care about being an informed citizen and voter. Which news you should shrug off or reflect on depends on your interests, opportunities, abilities, and life situation. Let’s say that today (or,...
13 days ago • 1 min read
Hello and happy Sunday! I have two announcements for you. After that, some thoughts as usual—today, about an underrated skill we should all develop asap. Todoist: 1-click setup & calendar integration First, for those of you who use Todoist, I’ve got some fun updates to share. You can now install my recommended Todoist setup with one click! I’ve been working with the Todoist team to make this happen and it’s exciting that it’s finally there. To install my recommended setup: Open Todoist Next...
27 days ago • 4 min read
You’re deep in thought, finally making progress on that important project. Then… ding. A new email. Buzz. A message on Teams. Oh, and don’t forget that meeting in 15 minutes! Sound familiar? It’s no wonder we often end our days feelings like we’ve been busy but unproductive. Our schedule is fragmented, leaving us stressed, with a vague but real sense that we can’t quite get a grasp on everything—or even on anything. When you’re constantly jumping back and forth, especially between quick...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey there! I’ve been working on a brand-new course. It’s called Productivity 101. You can pre-order it now—and the first 50 people get 25% off. Pre-Order Now There’s also a great bonus for anyone who pre-orders… so keep reading. What’s this new course about?So much information comes our way every single day. Emails, chats, tasks, documents, meetings, you name it. At work as well as at home, our responsibilities are multiplying, but we still only have the same 24 hours in a day. To thrive...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
I’m currently on a layover at Dubai International Airport. My body is very confused about what time it is or should be and about whether I should be awake or asleep, hungry or not—in other words, I’m jet lagged. To keep myself fresh at airports, I like to walk around a lot. It compensates for all the sitting on the plane. And as I was just walking through the terminal, I passed by a bookstore. You know, the WHSmith kind, except this one was smaller. Airport bookstores tend to have...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Here’s an Apple Notes tip I shared on Threads and X yesterday: View this tip on Threads. If you use Apple Notes to take meeting notes and you write down meeting action items using the checkbox feature, this is a really handy way to make sure you’re not dropping any balls. As you can see, this tip resonated with people. Just like another Apple Notes tip I posted recently, about how to quickly link from one note to another: View this tip on Threads. Whether or not these tips are relevant for...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
The other day, my afternoon didn’t quite go according to plan. I’d spent the morning at my favorite coworking space here in Bali, drafting the outline for my next productivity course. I’d made good progress and thought I could definitely finish the outline by the end of the day, setting me up well to start writing up the course lessons the next morning, so that I could record the course videos later in the week. In other words, I was right on track. I did want a change of scenery, though. It...
2 months ago • 5 min read
“Hey ChatGPT, I’m tired today—can you write my weekly newsletter?” I’m kidding. I wouldn’t do that to you. (Not yet. 😉) Have you spent much time with ChatGPT recently? Or ever? Several friends have been nudging me for a while now to spend more time exploring what ChatGPT can do for me. I had been pretty skeptical of AI technologies, but after informing myself better and learning how to use them, I’m impressed. Here are some things I used ChatGPT for in the past week: Extracted email addresses...
2 months ago • 3 min read
If you’re going on a day-long hike and, right at the outset, you find a pebble in your shoe, what do you do? You don’t say, “I have to do the hardest task first—I’m going to finish this hike and remove the pebble after”. No, you take off your shoe, give it a good shake until the pebble drops to the ground, you put your shoe back on, and you continue walking. When it comes to completing our biggest, most important tasks, we’re told to eat that frog, to fill our jar with big rocks first, to...
3 months ago • 2 min read