Category Archive: Productivity

Way, way back when, Shawn showed off one of his cool tricks for spurring the creative juices each morning. Rather than sitting down cold turkey at the computer to begin work for the day, Shawn would leave a note right in front of his keyboard the prior evening outlining the next step, the next idea, […] »

There are a million habit-tracking apps out there. But almost all of them are built on some form of the idea, “Don’t break the chain.” The basic idea is that when you consistently show and take action, you create a lot of momentum toward creating positive change. And that makes a lot of sense. But […] »

Rewind.ai is a pretty incredible new tool for Mac users that bills itself as the search engine for your life, and that's really not a bad way to describe it. »

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 […] »

How to stop the “just checks” and keep your bias toward action. »

Want to know the secret to creating new habits and sticking with them? Hint: It’s not Sunsama (though, as we’ll see, Sunsama can be a really big help.) There’s no app or workflow out there that will magically transform all your desired habits into actual habits. The key to developing habits is to perform the […] »

Raise your hand if your current schedule looks something like this: Adam shared this in the private Focus Academy Slack community during a previous Focus Academy class. (Reminder: enrollment for our January class closes in 5 days!) Keep in mind, that was just his work schedule. Imagine how it would look when factoring in family […] »

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 […] »

If I had written about using web apps in Arc a month or two ago, I would have discussed how this was a failed experiment. Instead of using the native Notion, Hey, and Slack apps for macOS, I opted to create spaces and tabs inside the new Arc browser. The apps behaved super quickly in Arc and all the latest and greatest features were present from the start. »

Setting goals (especially the right goals) is a critical ingredient for unlocking more focus in your life. »

A blank canvas might make for a nice Hallmark card, but in my experience it’s actually one of the worst ways you can look at the new year. »

Here are my first impressions of using Sunsama for a month to plan each day, plan each week, and track my work towards my objectives. »

For anyone looking to improve their video image quality for video conferences without breaking the bank by buying a full mirrorless camera setup, Continuity Camera may quickly become your default video camera setup. »

I can’t imagine too many folks have too many opportunities to design their own office from top to bottom. The fit, the finishes, and everything in between. I had the chance to do so over the summer and, though stressful at times, it was a pile of fun. Our small accounting office worked out of […] »

For as long as productivity nerds have roamed the earth, we’re argued about goals. What makes a good one? What makes a bad one? Are they even worth setting at all? But no time of the year sparks debate over these questions quite like the handful of weeks leading up to January. From now until […] »

Building systems is a borderline addiction of mine. There is something fascinating about building a process for inputs to travel through and the problem solving required to make it happen cleanly and efficiently. »

Here’s a roundup of iOS 16’s latest features for Notes, and a quick look at what we’re going to see in iPadOS 16’s Notes soon. »

Remember the golden age of email apps? I remember Sparrow, the best email client to ever be made. I remember the wait line to get into Mailbox. I even remember the seemingly endless wait to get the new Outlook design just a few years ago. »

Earlier this year, I attended the Macstock Conference & Expo where I saw Mike Rose share about a few tools to give better live software demos. One of the apps he mentioned was an app called Mouseposé, a simple macOS utility by Boinx software that I had somehow never come across before. »

If you’re in the middle of building a new workspace at home or at the office, you know just how many elements there are to consider. Desks and chairs are just the tip of the iceberg — anything from lighting through to plant life has likely played a role in your considerations. »

PDF Expert recently received a major update to version 3, bringing with it a new design, OCR support, and new ways to export PDFs. Here’s a quick first look at PDF Expert 3’s major new features and how the team is nicely combining the best PDF features from PDF Expert on the iPad with PDF Expert on the Mac. »

Traditional wisdom says you should set a goal and work towards achieving that goal. On the surface, there's nothing wrong with this concept. But there are so many variables in the mix with goals that it makes them difficult to achieve and troublesome to keep front of mind in most work-life scenarios. »

I had my first taste of text snippet expansion way, way back when everyone could use TextExpander without the subscription cost. There was a little bit of magic every time one of those snippets expanded. It was even cooler when you triggered a little dialog box that let you type in a custom bit of text to be added into the text expansion. »

Recording your screen and sharing it with others is something that's always been useful, but it's only accelerated as so many of us have been physically separated from our teammates over the past few years. There are dozens of options out there for recording your screen, but two of the best and most interesting options for Mac users are Loom and CleanShot X. »

No matter who you are, a password manager should be the first tool installed on your device. Each day that goes by, a new insidious hack is devised to trick a vulnerable person into a scam. One of the best ways to combat these hacking attempts is to use strong passwords. »

A couple of years ago, Shawn created a productivity dashboard in Ulysses. As you can read more about in that original article, Shawn was working to build a central spot to hold everything he was working on that week: his schedule and most important tasks as well as a place to easily access and work on his notes, ideas, and writing. Anyway — Shawn challenged me to create something similar in Notion that could include the functionality he was looking for. »

Elgato's Stream Deck has really taken off in the past few years, and at it's core, it's simply a programmable keyboard that you can use to do whatever you want on your Mac or PC. Originally designed for streamers to do things like switch cameras, play sound effects, and bring up graphics on screen, it's drawn the eye of regular office workers as well. »

When I first saw the reMarkable 2, I immediately saw the appeal from a mindfulness perspective. In this Mindfulness Monday post, I consider the pros and cons of "the world's thinnest tablet." »

Obsidian is a great place to take and keep your notes, but by adding a Home note that acts as a dashboard, you can really transform it into a productivity hub. And in this video, that's what I'm going to show you how to do. »

With the rise of PKM tools comes an interesting dilemma. If set up well, your PKM can house all the information you need to know about a project that you have committed to completing. However, what happens when you need to access the files that correspond to that project? »

My adventures in task management began with Evernote and The Secret Weapon. My corporate job had begun pushing the limits of my memory and led me down the stereotypical path of overwhelm. A quick internet search led me to GTD, TSW, and Evernote, and I thought I had found the solution to my stress. »

I officially joined the Blanc Media team in September of 2021. When I joined the team, I had some understanding of productivity, habits, focus, and all of those exciting things. But when I first heard the term “PKM” I drew a blank. I thought, what is PKM? »

Daily Notes became a hallmark feature in Craft in short order. The quick and easy ability to create a note, specific to a calendar date, that could be linked and back-linked across your entire Craft database made the feature a perfect option for collecting digital paraphernalia. »

Like many of you, I’ve been working from home for the past two years, and I’d be lying if I said that I’ve been 100% focused on my work the entire time I’ve been here. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve done my job, but I’d be lying if I said I spend all of my working hours on, well, work. There are just so many distractions at home, and without some strong discipline, it’s easy to get sucked into all sorts of things around the house that are way more fun than work. »

The transition from listing out all your tasks to putting them into your calendar has long been an annoyance of mine. Long list of tasks, check. Time blocking habit in a calendar, check. But how do you seamlessly transfer tasks to your calendar without manually inserting each task in its own block? Enter Fantastical. »

I use Notion almost every day in some capacity. It is the main project management software we use here at Blanc Media, and I also use it for all my side hustles. I also use it as my predominant task list manager, and since it’s one of the apps I use the most, it made sense to start tracking my habits in my personal, customized dashboard. »

Obsidian version 13 introduced a new editor engine that allows WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) text editing called Live Preview. It's a pretty big update, and in this video, we walk you through how to set it up and how it works. »

Matter is a Read-It-Later service that integrates really well into Obsidian. So if you like to collect your newsletters, RSS feeds, and even Twitter threads into Matter, you can sync your digital highlights and notes into Obsidian using the official Matter Obsidian plugin. »

Today, I’ll show how I’ve adapted Mike’s “Cultivate” and “Connect” steps into something I can use to help advise clients each day. It’s not a 1:1 adaptation, but I’ve been surprised by how many similarities have popped up. »

How did I find success in turning my 2021 New Year’s resolutions into habits? A combination of resolution adjustments, self forgiveness, stricter scheduling, and a few handy apps for good measure. Here’s how I did it. »

Imagine seeing text somewhere in the real world and being able to easily share it digitally. That's exactly what Live Text allows you to do. Whether it's a handwritten note, writing on a whiteboard, or a printed sign, Live Text allows you to snap a photo and turn the text into a digital version that can be easily pasted into any application. »

Here's an inside look at my entire writing process: How I take things from idea to written draft to final published article. »

Way back in February 2021, I wrote about how I used the iPad to study for the biggest exam of my life. The iPad is the best educational tool in the world, and I had developed a bit of a process over the last 10 years to get as much out of the iPad as possible. Here’s how I’ve adapted the first two steps of Mike’s Creativity Flywheel (Capture and Curate) to my own personal workflows. »

Notion has fundamentally changed how I work with clients on freelance projects. Not only has it given me a way to track my progress and organize everything for myself, but it’s given me a way to share that progress with my clients in a way that always impresses and makes me look like a real pro. »

Let's make it easier for you to do (and ship) your best creative work. »