👓 Bullet Journal: One Book to Rule Them All | Jamie Todd Rubin

Read Bullet Journal: One Book to Rule Them All by Jamie Todd Rubin (Jamie Todd Rubin)
I recently began using a Bullet Journal. Longtime readers who recall my going paperless days might find this odd. My going paperless experiment was just that–an experiment to see how far I could go without paper. Eventually, I decided that there were good reasons (for me) to continue to use paper....

📑 Bullet Journal: One Book to Rule Them All | Jamie Todd Rubin

Annotated Bullet Journal: One Book to Rule Them All by Jamie Todd Rubin (Jamie Todd Rubin)
Isaacson pointed out that more than 7,000 pages from Da Vinci’s notebooks survived to today–a stretch of 500 years. He asked how many of our tweets and Facebook posts will survive even 50 years. Paper, it turns out, is a durable medium of information storage.  
Of course one also needs to think about reach and distribution as well. His notebooks have much more reach and distribution now than they ever did in his own lifetime. Where’s the balance? Blogging about it, syndicating to social media, and then printing paper copies in annual increments?

📑 One Tool To Rule Them All | Oki Doki Digital

Annotated One Tool To Rule Them All by Marie PoulinMarie Poulin (Oki Doki Digital)
Looking at some of those bullet journal masterpieces made me wonder, how much of bullet journaling is just...productivity porn?  
How many times have I thought this myself?

My bullet journal has to be the most spartan and utilitarian book of lists ever created.

👓 A vague Notion of a more productive system | Paul Jacobson

Read A vague Notion of a more productive system by Paul Jacobson (Paul Jacobson)
I spent a little time in my Pocket recommendations, and found this great post by Marie Poulin titled “One Tool To Rule Them All” and her, and her partner’s search for a more effec…

👓 How to be More Productive and Eliminate Time Wasting Activities by Using the “Eisenhower Box” | James Clear

Read How to be More Productive and Eliminate Time Wasting Activities by Using the “Eisenhower Box” by James Clear

Eisenhower’s strategy for taking action and organizing your tasks is simple. Using the decision matrix below, you will separate your actions based on four possibilities.

  1. Urgent and important (tasks you will do immediately).
  2. Important, but not urgent (tasks you will schedule to do later).
  3. Urgent, but not important (tasks you will delegate to someone else).
  4. Neither urgent nor important (tasks that you will eliminate).

The great thing about this matrix is that it can be used for broad productivity plans (“How should I spend my time each week?”) and for smaller, daily plans (“What should I do today?”).

👓 Opinion | In Search of Lost Screen Time | New York Times

Read Opinion | In Search of Lost Screen Time (New York Times)
Imagine what we could do with our money, and hours, if we set our phones aside for a year.
A good reminder of all the good we could be accomplishing…

👓 Planning as an act of hope | Robert Talbert

Read Planning as an act of hope by Robert Talbert (Robert Talbert, Ph.D.)
How do you approach planning short- and long-term goals, when you have no idea what the next 120 days will be like, or even if you'll be around at the end of it?
Sometimes flipping your life as well as your classroom can yield some excellent results. Robert has some excellent reflections here.

📑 Top 5 Technology Trends of 2018 | Richard MacManus

Annotated Top 5 Technology Trends of 2018 by Richard MacManus (Richard MacManus)
I adopted a ‘horses for courses’ approach to keep it in check. I used Facebook primarily to keep in touch with family and real-world friends, I used Twitter for tech discussions and networking, I used LinkedIn sparingly, and I dropped any social media that didn’t fulfill a specific function for me.  

🎧 Podcast 199: Evaluate Your “18 for 2018” List | Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Listened to Podcast 199: Evaluate Your “18 for 2018” List (We Reveal Our Own Successes and Failures), Plus an App for Finding Lost Items. by Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft from Gretchen Rubin

Evaluate your “18 for 2018” list, we reveal our own successes and failures with “18 for 2018,” plus a popular app for locating lost items.

Try This at Home: Evaluate your "18 for 2018." Looking back on the year, how did you do? What can you learn from what you did and didn't accomplish?

Elizabeth mentions the Happier in Hollywood Facebook Group. Lots of great discussion there.

Or check out my free Better app.

Happiness Hack: In response to the discussion in episode 197 about the person who refuses to keep keys in the key bowl, and so kept losing his keys, many people suggested the solution of the Tile app for keeping track of keys, wallet, TV remote control device, etc.

Read a review on the  New York Times review site The Wirecutter here.

Gretchen's Demerit: This is a small, dumb demerit. I realized perfectly well that I kept running over my phone charger's cord with my office chair, and that this was a bad idea, but I did nothing to fix the situation—until my cord got wrapped up into the wheel, and I had to spend twenty minutes trying to get it out. Identify the problem!

Elizabeth's Gold Star: Elizabeth gives a gold star to an old friend in Kansas City, for arranging a gathering of old hometown friends over the holidays.

Trying out a new podcast after hearing a few people recommend it. I’ve read Gretchen’s Happiness book so I don’t expect it to be all bad, but I’m worried there’s more “fluff” in these than the sort of brass tacks bottom line productivity advice I’d really appreciate.

They’re certainly pushing out a lot of advertising in these, even for products that aren’t necessarily paying for time. It was just about what I expected. May sample a few more episodes, but likely playing at 1.40X speed.

👓 How to Configure Your iPhone to Work for You, Not Against You | Better Humans

Read How to Configure Your iPhone to Work for You, Not Against You by Coach Tony (Better Humans | Medium)
The Very, Very Complete Guide to Productivity, Focus, and Your Own Longevity

Optimize First for Single Tasking
#1. Turn OFF (almost) all notifications
#2. Hide social media slot machines
#3. Hide messaging slot machines
#4. Disable app review requests
#5. Turn on Do Not Disturb
#6. Be strategic about your wallpaper
#7. Turn off Raise to Wake
#8. Add the Screen Time widget
#9. Add Content Restrictions
#10. (Optional) Use Restrictions to turn off Safari
#11. Organize your Apps and Folders alphabetically
Switch to Google Cloud to Work Faster
#12. Choose GMail
#13. Choose Google Calendar
#14. Replace Apple Maps with Google Maps
#15. Install the GBoard keyboard for faster typing
#16. Switch to Google Photos
Install These Apps for Productivity
#17. Use Evernote for all note taking, to-do lists, everything
#18. The Case for Calm as your go-to meditation app
#19. Install the right goal tracker for you
#20. Store all your passwords in a password manager, probably LastPass
#21. Use Numerical as your default calculator
#22. Put the Camera app in your toolbar
#23. Use this Doppler Radar app
#24. Use this Pomodoro app
#25. Use Brain.fm for background noise
Use These Apps and Configurations for Deep Learning
#26. Subscribe to these podcasts
#27. Install the Kindle app but never read it in bed
#28. Use Safari this way
#29. Organize your home screen for deep learning over shallow learning
Use These Apps and Configurations for Longevity
#30. Track steps this way
#31. Prefer Time Restricted Eating Over Calorie Counting
#32. Schedule Night Shift
#33. Set up Medical ID
Make The Finishing Touches with These Configurations
#34. Change Siri to a man
#35. Change your phone’s name
#36. Turn off advertising tracking
#37. Set auto-lock to the maximum time
#38. Set your personal hotspot password to a three word phrase
#39. Turn on control center everywhere
#40. Turn on Background App Refresh
#41. Delete Garage Band
#42. Develop verbal memory for talking to Siri
#43. Set up these text replacement shortcuts
#44. Set your address
#45. Backup this way
Appendix A: Principles
Appendix B: Budget & Costs
Appendix C: Case Study
Appendix D: Updates
A terrifically long post about improving one’s productivity (on many levels), but primarily focused on one’s mobile experience.

👓 I’m slow | snarfed.org

Read I’m slow by Ryan BarrettRyan Barrett (snarfed.org)
Speed is all the rage these days. Move fast and break things, iterate fast, fail fast and learn from your mistakes fast and pivot fast so you can do it all over again. We scorn bloated governments and dinosaur bureacracies and praise lean...

👓 Farewell Social Media | James Shelley

Read Farewell Social Media by James ShelleyJames Shelley (jamesshelley.com)
I recently purged the data from my Facebook account. This effort was shockingly labour intensive: it took a browser script all weekend to crunch, and still many aspects of the process required manual execution. Torching years and years of old Facebook activity felt so liberating that I found another...
A short, but solid piece on why James has left social media and consciously moved to his own blog and feed reader. I’m curious what his thoughts are a bit on into his experience. He’s definitely worth a follow.