This was a really fun show I did with Matt Ward and Dan Candell over on the Square Peg Round Hole Podcast. We get to talk about building online communities (in my case Productivity Guild) and how those compare to FaceBook communities. Ultimately, treat your community like a close friend.
As you can tell by my co-hosting of three different shows, I have embraced my love for podcasting. But, apparently, running three shows of my own isn't enough. I started doing some interviews on other shows and the first of these to release is my chat with Jay Miller over on the Productivity in Tech podcast.
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In the past I've wanted to be a reader and yet never picked up a book. But that changed when I said yes to Bookworm. Since then I've read 16 books for Bookworm and four more on my own. And I'm on pace to read three more by year's end.
I've been tracking where I spend my time for a while now. In the majority of cases it has been purely for personal use and decision-making, but since I have now taken a part time IT position, I need to know exactly how many hours I spend on the job and calculate whether or not I've met my expected quota for the week.
On occasion I find myself with a sliver of free time. And it seems inevitable that I use it to tinker with this site. Given my latest obsession with page load speeds, this time I directed my attention towards the implementation of a CDN.
As I write this, my wife and I are expecting our third baby girl to join us within the next week. I wish I could say there is nothing but pure excitement in our house, but as anyone who has kids knows, there are a number of things to do once you know it is "time." Depending on your situation, which you can't predetermine, you may not have much time to accomplish everything and get out the door, so most of us put together a checklist to help us remember.
Searching is one of the most technically complicated processes to build and yet the simplest to use. And it's almost universally accepted that every website has a way to search the entirety of their content. Connect this with the ability to search websites directly from Alfred and you can create a one-stop shop for searching all your favorite sites.
I'm a fan of Discourse. That should come without surprise at this point. As a fan, it's natural for me to see the potential for Discourse to solve communication problems and create selective visibility within an organization. So it was easy for me to gravitate toward it for the IT communication structure at my church.
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There's a common misconception in the productivity world that when you develop a new process or system it needs to be entirely digital or entirely analog. Or the more common version of this dilemma: to work toward the use of a single database for your tasks. That may be nice, but it's far from necessary.
In the midst of reading for Bookworm, I discovered my habit of quickly checking my email throughout the day. It's a simple habit on the surface, but try to break it and you'll find that willpower alone may not be enough to win.
We all need to eat. The consequences of rejecting that fact are far from pleasant and none of us would argue this reality. The problem comes when choosing which foods to consume. It's not enough that our supermarkets are overflowing and options are endless; we have corporate marketing schemes, dietary standards, and fear mongering to battle.
One of the strongest fears I grapple with is that of rejection. Like most, I want people to appreciate the work I do and me as a person. My struggle develops when I sense a dislike or underappreciation directed towards me in some way. Red flags start flying and I find myself searching for ways to get out of the scenario.
I was an avid reader in grade school. Any program the school put in place to encourage kids to read, I completed as fast as I could. That trend continued until I made it to junior high.
The concept of resistance is getting to be common knowledge. In its original context as posed by Steven Pressfield, resistance is entirely negative. It is the internal and sometimes external force keeping us from doing our best work. As good brainworkers we consistently look for tactics, methodologies, and habits to remove and eliminate resistance.
I have tried numerous methods of managing my daily tasks digitally. But no matter the tool or the method, I am unable to replicate the clarity and motivation that comes from using pen and paper to plan and reflect on my day.
More often than not, I find myself surprised by the questions I get after releasing a new script or product. After releasing Working With OmniFocus I received more emails about how the site is set up then I did about the course itself. It's apparent to me that this is something different that others are interested in. So here's how I did it.
It's been about 10 months since I switched to Dvorak. It's been at least six months since I've written about it. In that six months, I have continued to make improvements but I've also noticed an interesting tidbit about my relationship with QWERTY.
For years, Disqus has been the commenting platform of choice. It's what I used when my site was on WordPress. When I switched to a static site generated by Jekyll, I pulled commenting entirely. But given the topics I write about, comments can be quite helpful and I realize that was a mistake. So I brought them back with the help of Discourse.
Alfred is a tool I use hundreds of times a day without realizing it. I'm not sure why it took me so long to pick up Alfred Remote for my phone, but I'm now seeing the potential for some really advanced triggering for my Mac.
Drafts is easily one of the most used apps on my phone. To me, it is the pinnacle of resistance-free digital capture. If I look through my list of processed drafts, the most common forms of text I capture are content ideas and book suggestions. This tells me I read, write, and record a lot.
I'm all about reviews. I think their value greatly outweighs the time involved and energy expended. Most of the time it's easy for me to initiate a review and step through its checklist, but there are days when I see a weekly review coming up on the calendar and start dreading it immediately.
One of my most hated tasks is setting the price for a new product. It's painful and it seems like I can never get it right. The bright side is that I've been able to learn a lot in the process and that has led me to a price simplification, effective immediately.
One piece missing in my Drafts actions arsenal was the ability to create a single draft with multiple tasks and send them all to OmniFocus via the new URL schemes. This isn't something I use often but there are times when it would be useful and can be the difference between capturing everything and missing a vital thought.
This past weekend my wife was gone on a retreat. That meant I took care of our girls on my own. They go to bed about an hour and a half before I do, and like any self-respecting web developer with an aging web design, I took advantage of the extra free time and made some major changes to the look and feel of my home on the web.
I've always admired the thought and intentionality that Kourosh Dini applies to his methods of working and developing structures that help him accomplish his tasks. So I was excited when he gave me the opportunity to go through his video course, Zen & The Art of Work, prior to its launch. I must say that I think this is his best work to date.
I've been impressed by the speed of the Omni Group's release cycles lately. It's obvious they are hard at work on the automation methods for both iOS and macOS. One of these recent releases introduced the ability to create new projects within a specific folder on iOS.
Earlier this week, I published an article eluding to my use of Gmail's permalinks. It sparked a number of unexpected questions about how to get them and how I use them on both macOS and iOS. But rather than write it out, I figured a screencast would help convey the process better.
Folks are quite passionate about the software they use to access their email. I fell in that camp for a while but anymore I just don't get it. I think that stems from my intent to touch emails only once, keep my inbox as empty as possible, and use a single archive folder for all emails I want to keep.
I'm always looking for a way to automate a process or develop a structure that removes steps from a frequently repeated task. That's to be expected since I enjoy the world of productivity and do a fair amount of development.
When the Omni Group implemented the new automation methods in OmniFocus for iOS, I was both excited and worried. I had over 30 actions in Drafts that send text to OmniFocus using background emails as an action method. Switching all of those to use URLs was going to take some time.
👋 I'm Joe. I strive to build productivity systems that stand the test of time and help me do more than check boxes. I'm here to help you do the same.
🎙 I read a lot of books and talk about it.
🐿 I can't focus on one thing for long, so I write a lot of code for an eclectic grouping of projects.
📓 And I'm a bit obsessed with finding non-proprietary solutions to digital problems. Thus, text files for the win! 🎉
