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App Recommendations from Sweet Setup Staff

Sidecar

Best App for Using Your iPad as a Second Monitor or External Display

Sidecar

Sidecar is the best app for using your iPad as an external display on macOS Catalina Macs and iPadOS 13 iPads.
Unread

The Best RSS App for iPhone and iPad

Unread

Unread offers the best experience for reading RSS feeds on the iPhone and iPad.
Tweetbot 3

The best Twitter client for Mac

Tweetbot 3

Tweetbot 3 is our favorite Twitter client for Mac because of its awesome feature set and delightful design.


Blog Posts & Articles by Sweet Setup Staff

Finding the Right Habits

We’ve been talking a lot about habits in the past few months. Habits help us build the future we want for ourselves and accomplish our goals. “People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures” — F.M. Alexander In the name of habits, we decided to pull an […] »

The Importance of Routines

I’m Mike Schmitz, a full-time creator with a YouTube channel, multiple podcasts (Bookworm and Focused), and a frequent contributor here at The Sweet Setup. »

How to Use Custom Planning Templates Inside of GoodNotes

Analog vs. Digital The battle for analog vs. digital for productivity tools has never been more fierce. On the one hand, what digital tools are able to accomplish continues to amaze as technology advances. On the other hand, technology also opens the door to distractions and interruptions and there’s a lot to be said for […] »

Our Favorite Books to Recommend

We are pretty avid readers over here. The books we’ve read have helped shape who we are as people and what our company values and offers to our customers. We all take time in our weekly routine to dive into some kind of book, be it a business development book or a gripping novel. We […] »

Focus Academy Opens…Now!

Big day today! Enrollment for the Fall cohort of Focus Academy is officially open! Click here to explore the agenda and save your spot now. <<< Plus, I’m offering a little something extra special for the next 48 hours… Fast Action Bonus: Everyone who enrolls before midnight Wednesday, gets a free spot in our 2024 […] »

Build Your Focused Life: Live in a Few Hours!

In just a few hours, I’m going live to help you put together a plan for maximum clarity to close out 2023. Click below to RSVP so you can join at 2pm Eastern | 1pm Central | 11am Pacific: How to Build Your Focused Life ← If you’ll set aside 60 minutes, I’ll show you […] »

Tomorrow: How to Build Your Focused Life (Webinar)

Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 20, I’m hosting a free online class and you won’t want to miss it: How to Build a Focused Life (even if you hate productivity and aren’t naturally organized). You’ll get a walkthrough of the system I use for identifying, planning, and consistently getting the right things done. How I eliminated 90% […] »

A Beginner’s Guide to Notion

We share our best tips and templates for getting started with Notion and also cover the basic elements and common use cases for getting the most out of it. »

Save the Date: How to Build a Focused Life (Webinar)

Random fact: There are 109 days left in 2023. When I realized this, I had one thought… That’s so much time. Let’s go! When September starts, I know that it can feel as if the year is almost over. It can feel as if the projects we wanted to accomplish this year will have to […] »

This Writing Workflow = Peak Creativity (Free Webinar)

If you want to know how much of a productivity nerd you truly are, there’s only one question you need to ask: How excited does the term workflow make you? 🤓 If you’re sitting at your desk doing this right now… …then you need to save your spot on our free workshop next week — […] »

What Inboxes Need to be Calmed?

When I say the word “inbox,” what comes to your mind? For most people, it’s email, right? Email is the thing we think about when we think of checking our inbox. But the truth is that we all have multiple inboxes. An inbox is just anything that collects incoming bits of information that need to […] »

Seven Tips for Eliminating Inbox Addiction

Inbox Addiction is an urge to continuously check our news feeds, social feeds, and message inboxes despite undesirable and even negative consequences or a desire to stop. »

Introducing Do Not Disturb 🌙

Do Not Disturb is a 3-part live online workshop that gives you a system for unlocking creative momentum and shutting out the distractions that derail your most important work. »

The Ultimate Guide to Using Do Not Disturb on Mac and iOS

Do Not Disturb is a life saver. You can set it up on all your devices and it silences all your notifications. You can set it to turn on a set schedule, turn it on for meetings, or when you need to go “heads down” on an important project. »

Is Matter or Readwise Reader the Read-Later App for You?

There’s been a battle brewing over the past year or so between Matter and Readwise Reader over which is the better brand-spanking-new read later service. Here at The Sweet Setup, we try to pick the best apps and services in every category we can, but the TSS crew is split on this one, so today Josh and Matt are going to make their case for why they prefer each of these apps. »

Avoiding Productivity Pitfalls and Boosting Focus

When it comes to productivity and focus, I have a secret weapon — a book that I never see anyone talking about. Now, I know not everyone is a nerd about planning, scheduling, and setting goals, but there is a book by J.D. Meier that's just fantastic. »

Your opinion: Notion

Do you have thoughts about Notion? Good! We need your feedback. We’re working on some new trainings, resources, and templates for Notion users — specifically to help with prioritizing ideas and managing tasks. We’re excited about it, but before we get too far we have a quick favor to ask you: Would you mind taking […] »

How Notion’s Relational Databases Connect Everything Together

What’s so great about relational databases? We have been big fans of Notion for a while now, and relational databases are what makes Notion, well Notion. If you had a lot of organized spreadsheets next to each other that would be great, but in Notion your organized spreadsheets talk to each other. Relational databases connect […] »

The Margin Reset: A Complete Guide to Getting Your Time Back

This week, we are kicking off our next Focus Booster inside the community. And it’s a Complete Guide to Margin. How to go from busy and overwhelmed to…. not busy There are only two ways you can restore margin to your life. And they’re actually quite simple… As part of our upcoming Margin Reset — […] »

In Praise of Habit Trackers

Quick wins are rarely the elements of a long-term strategy. If you search for quick wins, you’ll find them. But they won’t add up to anything substantial over time. Instead, focus on being consistent with smaller actions you can stick with over a long period of time. Here’s why… The two types of goals (and […] »

Introducing Focus Boosters (for TSS Members)

If you’ve ever tried to learn something new or up-level in an area of your life, but fizzled out… then we’ve got just the thing for you. 🚀  This week we are starting something new inside the Focus community membership: Focus Boosters Focus Boosters are community-led, themed challenges to help you up-level in a specific […] »

Four Failures of Productivity (and how to solve them)

After teaching more than 15,000 people about productivity and time management, we’ve identified four failures to productivity (and the solutions to each). These four failures are easy to avoid. And that matters a lot because, as you can see from the image below, the four failures work together in a flywheel. A failure of one […] »

Last Day to Get 50% Off The Focus Accelerator

This is it! Today is the last day to get 50% off your first month of The Focus Accelerator — the most affordable way to access every resource we have for living a more focused, productive life. If you’re sweating the decision, I get it. A subscription to ALL THE THINGS can feel a little […] »

Curated Focus Pathways (Members-Only Bonus)

The new Focus Pathways are part of the Focus Accelerator membership. Each Focus Pathway brings together the curated course lessons and resources you need to tackle the specific challenge you’re facing or skill you want to master. »

Inside My Personal System for Focus (TSS June Webinar)

Join us for a free class where you'll get a walkthrough of our 4-Focus Method and the productivity frameworks we use every day to manage our tasks and time with a schedule that has plenty of breathing room and focus. »

The New Productivity Assessment

Our new, free productivity assessment to help you diagnose your biggest obstacle to focus right and how to solve it. »

Last Call: Your Creative Flywheel (TSS October Workshop)

Later today (Tuesday, Oct 12) we are hosting our October Workshop for getting your Creativity Flywheel set up and running. The workshop will be hosted live, today at 2pm Eastern (with a full replay available to everyone who registers). We’ll show you how to organize your ideas, turn them into something meaningful, and ultimately do […] »

Help Us Raise Funds for St. Jude During National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

This isn’t the kind of thing you’d normally find on The Sweet Setup, but we ask that you please take a moment to read this brief post about a cause we wholeheartedly believe in. September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and once again The Sweet Setup is happy to promote the Relay FM partnership […] »

Coming Next Week: To Obsidian and Beyond (Brand-New Course)

Here is an exciting housekeeping note for all those who’ve been following along with us the past few months related to all things Obsidian… Next Tuesday, August 3, our brand-new, in-depth Obsidian course will finally be available… To Obsidian and Beyond This brand-new Obsidian course is for those who believe that the curation and organization […] »

Voice Memo Apps: A Roundup and Overview of the Best

Capturing notes and ideas when you have them is important so that they don't fall through the cracks, but sometimes having to type out your note takes too long. You need something quick — a way to just offload what is currently on your mind so you can focus on what's in front of you. Voice memos are great for this, allowing you to speak your thoughts faster than you could ever type them. »

TSS Webinar: Organize Your Email (and Get More Focus)

Learn a few tips for how to create a more calm email inbox. Join us on Thursday, October 1 as we host a free webinar for The Sweet Setup community. This webinar is for you… If you want less email and more focus If you feel as if Inbox Zero is impossible. If you struggle […] »

Countdown to the Calm Inbox course…

When we asked thousands of our readers about email, they said that their biggest frustration was about just how overwhelming email feels. We got feedback from folks, saying things like: “Inbox Zero feels impossible” “I don’t how to prioritize emails that truly need my attention” “I am frustrated at trying to stay on top of […] »

Woven – The Calendar That Saves You Time (Sponsor)

Your calendar should save you time. Period. With Woven, you can save hours every month by making the calendar work for you. Create smart templates to rapidly create complex events. Schedule one-off links directly from your calendar or publish your availability and let people book with you online. Get direct insights into how you spend […] »

Review: Brydge Keyboard for iPad Pro

Editor’s Note: This review was a joint effort between Rosemary Orchard and Curtis McHale. Brydge has made some of the better external keyboards for iPads for a few years now. The latest Brydge Keyboard for iPad Pro promises an improved feel over Apple’s own Smart Keyboard Folio, and also promises other handy features like a […] »

The Eight Best Ulysses Superpowers

The more you use Ulysses, the better it gets. And because all your documents are plain text, Ulysses is wildly fast at searching and filtering through everything. It does’t get “database bloat.” Here are eight of our favorite superpowers of Ulysses: 1. Keywords Ulysses calls them keywords, but they’re the same thing as tags. You […] »

A Few of our Favorite Things

We put together a list of some of our favorite gadgets, apps, tools, and toys that we've enjoyed using over the last year. »

How to use 1Password as a digital will

1Password is fantastic for storing login credentials and secure notes, but it's also well-suited for providing a digital will for you family and loved ones. »

Knowledge Officer will turn your dream career goal into a reality (Sponsor)

Knowledge Officer is a unique learning platform for professionals; building personalised and dynamic learning paths based on people’s career goals. Are you too busy to learn? Bored of long courses? You can learn a lot about strategy, business, people and product management and more by spending just “15 mins” a day on Knowledge Officer. We […] »

​This productivity app will make you love Mondays (Sponsor)

monday.com is a project management tool which is the next generation of visual tools, built specifically for mac. It’s designed to work with ease, and allows you to see what everyone on your team is working on in a single glance. With monday.com you can manage projects and tasks in a single board, move through […] »

How to find the best VPN service (Sponsor)

Nowadays, VPN services are in great demand among users that prefer to protect their privacy and hide online activities from a prying eye. VPNs are essential for securing sensitive information while unsuspicious users are connected to public Wi-Fi networks. »

Good Deals on Apps and Gear

A continually-updated short list of some apps and other gear which we recommend even when they’re not on sale, but right now they happen to be at a good price. »

Argentum Camera (Sponsor)

Argentum Camera is a no-fuss black & white camera app. Stripped of all distractions it doesn’t ask you to fiddle around with settings and takes high quality black & white images with one tap. Perfect for street photography or really any other type of photography. Argentum is simplified to the core, so you can focus […] »

Uuni 2S (Sponsor)

Wood-fired pizzas baked on a stone board in 90 seconds or less »

Yosemite 2016 (Sponsor)

This coming March 14-17, the organizers of CocoaConf will be holding a special event in the heart of Yosemite National Park. It’s called Yosemite, and it’s a conference for Apple developers, designers, and enthusiasts. »

curbi (Sponsor)

Manage screen time with amazing parental controls for iOS and Android. »