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“You shouldn’t just envy the craftsman mindset, you should emulate it. In other words, I am suggesting that you put aside the question of whether your job is your true passion, and instead turn your focus toward becoming so good they can’t ignore you. That is, regardless of what you do for a living, approach your work like a true performer.” (Cal Newport, So Good They Can’t Ignore You)
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Starting 2025 with the Reflect notes app
On the surface, Reflect is as simple as it gets. When I open the app, I’m right on my daily note, when starting a new note, I get a blank screen. No toolbars, no bright shiny Share buttons, no distractions. Under the covers, there is a lot to like: End-to-end encryption Markdown support Keyboard shortcuts Backlinks Image and PDF OCR A simple tasks interface Voice note transcription Built-in AI (OpenAI or Anthropic) for manipulating text, creating custom prompts, or even chatting with AI about selected notes Readwise (or direct Kindle) sync Import and export of notes in Markdown and other formats Reflect feels like writing in the default notepad app on my OS, but with superpowers. Continue reading →
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“I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and-if you’re not careful-those lead to actions. Actions make you tired. I have this on rather good authority from someone who once read it in a book.” (Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker)
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“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” (Peter Voogd, 6 Months to 6 Figures)
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Uptime, by Laura Mae Martin
Finished reading: Uptime by Laura Mae Martin 📚 A well-written productivity book that’s full of actionable advice. However, as someone who is a productivity nerd, I didn’t get too much from the book. I would recommend it for anyone who is new to the productivity space. The book covers Top 3 priorities, saying no, creating lists, deep work, zero-based calendaring, finding your “power hours”, time reviews, procrastination, downtime (rest), using your environment, setting boundaries, creating plans, make the most out of meetings, mastering email, creating routines, meditation, and mindfulness. Continue reading →
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“Loading everyone to 100% of capacity has the same effect as loading a highway to 100% of capacity: No one can make any progress.” (Mike Cohn, Agile Estimating and Planning)
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“Named after the economist Charles Goodhart, the principle states, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”” (James Clear, Atomic Habits)
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“The map of reality is not reality. Even the best maps are imperfect. That’s because they are reductions of what they represent. If a map were to represent the territory with perfect fidelity, it would no longer be a reduction and thus would no longer be useful to us.” (Shane Parrish, Rhiannon Beaubien, The Great Mental Models)
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Switching from Kindle to Kobo: Initial Thoughts
I’ve been an Amazon Kindle user for about 14 years. This week, when deciding whether to upgrade to the latest Kindle Paperwhite, I instead chose to switch to Kobo to explore its offerings. There are a few reasons that influenced my decision to switch: It lessens my dependency on Amazon. Kobo has seamless integration with library books through Overdrive. Kobo integrates smoothly with Pocket for reading articles. I went through a lengthy process when trying to decide what to get and even went down a rabbit hole, looking at the Supernote Nomad, Boox Go 7, and even the Kobo Libra Colour. Continue reading →
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“Learn to distinguish between events and interpretations. Events themselves do not upset us. Rather, it’s the stories we tell ourselves about those events.” (Epictetus, Sam Torode, Ancient Renewal, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, The Manual)
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“Life is the sum of what you focus on. Living the focused life is not about constant happiness, but about being mindful of what you allow in your mind, akin to tending a private garden. Your experience of the world is shaped by what you pay attention to.” (Deep Questions with Cal Newport, Ep. 311: Finding Focus in Distracting Times)
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AI, in its current state, is a rubber duck
I was listening to Scott Hanselman’s Hanselminutes podcast with guest Maggie Appleton, and they were talking about AI. I agree with the discussion that LLMs (AI), in their current state, are best used for rubber ducking. What is rubber ducking? It’s a term often used by developers where the idea is that you have a rubber duck on your desk that you talk through a problem with. You don’t necessarily need another person for this; often, you need to talk through the problem with yourself in order to discover the answer. Continue reading →
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Cards Theme v1.9.8
I worked on a few updates to the Micro.blog Cards Theme today. New: New meta tags are automatically added to your head HTML. og:title, og:description, og:url fediverse:creator, and themecolor. The og: tags are for better interoperability with social media platforms. You can test your tags here. Added: In the plugin settings you can now enter your Fediverse Creator ID. Primarily supported by Mastodon, you can read more about this feature here. Continue reading →
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Philips S9000 Prestige Shaver
I never believed I would buy myself a $299 electric shaver, but here we are. To be fair, I used Christmas money (from this year and last year that I never spent) and just a little bit of my own cash to pay for it. Is the Philips S9000 Prestige worth it? I love this thing so far. It provides a nice and smooth shave. It’s also easy to clean since I purchased the model with the included cleaning and storage tub. Continue reading →
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Red One, 2024 - ★★★★
I enjoyed this movie better than I thought I would. It was a good holiday action film. Very creative and entertaining. Continue reading →
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Whoop AI
I’ve been using the Whoop band for a couple of months now. My main reason for using Whoop is that I can wear it on my bicep and forget about it. Then, I get all kinds of data that I can use to improve my health. I love data. But I hate digging for it. One of the cool features is the use of AI within the Whoop app. With access to all of your data, the Whoop AI can tell you what you “should” be doing and give you better answers about what you did and how it impacts your health. Continue reading →
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A quiet week at work, a good time to reflect
Last week was pretty chill at work; everyone was wrapping up their tasks so they can start their time off for the holidays. You can tell nobody wants to start something new as they try to clear their plate. I do the same. I find it’s a good opportunity to clean up systems and reflect on what’s working and what’s not. I’ve been making heavy use of Azure DevOps lately. Not only for managing our project tasks, but also utilizing the Wiki for documentation, and even dabbling in Pipelines for some automated deployments. Continue reading →
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Obsidian Web Clipper works on iOS
I just discovered that the Obsidian Web Clipper also works on iOS! I’ll need to use Safari since it’s a Safari extension, but that’s okay. I struggled with importing my settings. I had to import each template manually, and configuring the Interpreter was a bit of a pain, but it works! Continue reading →
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Default Apps 2024
Inspired by the Hemispheric Views podcast, here is my annual list of Default Apps for 2024. My list seems pretty boring (to me). It’s changed a good deal over the year, but this is what I’m currently using and what seems to be sticking with me for now. 📨 Mail Client: Hey 1 📮 Mail Server: Hey 1 📝 Notes: Obsidian 2 ✅ To-Do: Things 3 iOS 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Default camera app. Continue reading →
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Maybe I’ll give the Cards Theme some attention over the holiday break. I’ll make sure it’s supporting all the latest Micro.blog features and I’ll tweak some things. Any requests?
